Mon, Aug 5 2013, 9:33 AM
"What do you hear about Bernanke's replacement?" First off, most of
the "news" articles are merely editorials - don't expect anything before
Septe...
Mon, Aug 5 2013, 7:37 AM
The last three days of last week provided only a glimpse of the
volatility surrounding the Fed's tapering timeline. Interestingly
enough, Reuters...
Mon, Aug 5 2013, 5:43 PM
Bond markets previously wrestled with the idea of settling down for the
summer--something they haven't really been able to do since 2008--but
foun...
Mon, Aug 5 2013, 4:33 PM
Mortgage rates were essentially unchanged today. Whereas
rates where sharply lower on Friday (after being sharply higher on
Wednesday mornin...
Mon, Aug 5 2013, 3:11 PM
Is the recent change in long-term
Treasury yields the result of investors optimism about higher
short-term rates down the road, or are they demandin...
Mon, Aug 5 2013, 2:49 PM
The
Mortgage Bankers Association's new Mortgage Credit Availability Index
(MCAI) increased in June to 112.3 from 108.9 in May, an increase of
2...
Mon, Aug 5 2013, 1:36 PM
On the approach, the current week looked as if it would have precious
little to offer by way of suggesting the next--if any--shift in the
bigger p...
Fri, Aug 2 2013, 11:52 AM
Bond markets had been waiting on the past three days of data to better
assess Bernanke's potential affection in the coming months as the
tapering ...
Fri, Aug 2 2013, 11:14 AM
Happy Friday, August 2 nd . The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) notified everyone that its offices are
closed today due to ...
Fri, Aug 2 2013, 7:16 AM
Bond market momentum is increasingly dictated by horse races between September and December
timelines for the announcement that the Fed's asset ...
Fri, Aug 2 2013, 5:55 PM
In the same way that Doc Holiday said "that is a hell of a thing for
you to say to me" in the Movie Tombstone, it's a hell of a thing for me
to sa...
Fri, Aug 2 2013, 5:35 PM
The
number of companies holding licenses to lend, originate, or service
mortgage loans declined slightly in the first quarter of 2013 from
one ye...
Fri, Aug 2 2013, 4:11 PM
Mortgage rates fell sharply today, matching
the pace of yesterday's abrupt move higher. By the end of the day most
lenders were close to thei...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 12:35 PM
Everywhere we look this morning, there's another reason for bond markets
to be heading back into weaker territory after yesterday afternoon's
rela...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 10:57 AM
Home prices increased during the first
quarter of 2013 by 10.2 percent, the first double-digit quarterly
increase since the "bubble" peaked seven ye...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 10:07 PM
Nearly a month ago, the three day time frame at the end of this week
stood out as vastly important to bond markets due to the level of
information...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 9:57 AM
"Do you ever hear about Freddie or Fannie doing anything illegal with
regard to foreclosures?" Wow - that question is way above my pay grade!
And ...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 7:02 AM
Much was made of the potential volatility introduced by yesterday's
calendar of events and markets did not disappoint. But the volatility
arrived...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 5:16 PM
Mortgage rates rose abruptly today, moving
highest levels since July 9th as financial markets prepare for
tomorrow's important Employment Sit...
Thu, Aug 1 2013, 4:23 PM
The chairs of the House Financial
Services (FSC) and the Oversight and Government Reform Committees are
focusing on business relationships four fo...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 12:31 PM
Trading activity has been fairly logical so far today. Bond markets
continued to leak just slightly lower in price overnight (higher in
yield), b...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 10:50 AM
Parsing the Fed is everyone's
favorite game, so before the Fed wraps its fifth meeting of 2013 this
afternoon, it's time to play "Build Your Own Fed...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 10:22 AM
Months after other cities quietly
dropped similar plans the city of Richmond, California yesterday
quietly moved to buy 624 residential mortgages...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 9:43 AM
I used to look at my dog and think, "If you were a little smarter,
you could tell me what you were thinking." And she'd look at me like she
was sa...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 9:00 AM
" Mortgage rates were little changed
last week, but remain roughly one percentage point higher than they
were three months ago," said Mike Fratanto...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 8:13 AM
After nearly a month of waiting , the three days are now upon
us that stood out as the most significant three days all the way back on
July 8th (...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 5:49 PM
The Fed is to be applauded for mentioning mortgage rates in today's
official Announcement in an unprecedented way. While the Fed is the
very pict...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 4:56 PM
Mortgage rates are deceptively unchanged here
at the end of the trading day, but that was far from the case this
morning. Rates were signific...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 1:59 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June
suggests that economic activity expanded at a modest pace during the
firs...
Wed, Jul 31 2013, 1:20 PM
Senate Bill 1376, A bill to improve
the Federal Housing Administration and to ensure the solvency of the
Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, has been...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 12:28 PM
Step back from MBS prices far enough to see more than a few days and it
becomes clear that we're grinding sideways in an increasingly narrow
range...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 10:52 AM
S&P/Dow Jones Indices said this
morning that its Case-Shiller 10-City and 20-City Composite Indices continued
to rise in May, up 2.5 percent and 2.4...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 9:57 AM
There were 55,000 completed foreclosures in the U.S.
in June CoreLogic reported this morning.
This is a 2.5 increase from May when there were a r...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 9:45 AM
Uh oh, just as I head to New York, this comes up. When the new MIP rules
went into effect, disclosures needed to be updated. A very informal
pol...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 6:43 AM
While the "day before the day with huge potential volatility"
occasionally surprises us with a relatively large preemptive move, we're
still waiti...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 4:28 PM
We have it on good authority that tomorrow is Wednesday and that there's
a lot of "stuff" going on that bond markets might care about. That
inclu...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 4:09 PM
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac told their
lenders today that they will soon provide a common industry data set for the Consumer
Financial Protection B...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 4:03 PM
Commercial and multifamily mortgage
originations jumped 36 percent in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the
first quarter and were up 7 perce...
Tue, Jul 30 2013, 3:10 PM
Mortgage rates were essentially unchanged today ,
with some lenders in marginally better shape while others were
marginally worse. Some of thi...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 12:26 PM
Given the abundance of data and events due out later this week, bond
markets have unofficially extended the weekend through today as far as
tradin...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 12:15 PM
May home price rose 1.3 percent nationally on Lender
Processing Services (LPS) Home Price Index (HPI) the company said today. The
index is now at ...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 10:32 AM
Rising interest rates and home prices
are blamed for a slight dip in the number of pending sales in June the National
Association of Realtors® (NAR)...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 9:38 AM
I am visiting Montana, and Butte just wrapped up "Evil Knievel Days"
over the weekend. (I had an acquaintance who was married to his sister -
thei...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 8:27 AM
If market participants have been on vacation literally or
figuratively (and many have), this is the week worth coming back for.
In fact, it's one...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 4:42 PM
In the same vein as Wells Fargo and Chase, Everbank today announced it would no longer be offering a wholesale lending
channel. While nowhere n...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 4:26 PM
It's no secret by now that Wednesday through Friday of this week bring
an exceptionally heavy load of economic data and events, collectively
carry...
Mon, Jul 29 2013, 4:04 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher
to begin a week that could end with much bigger swings. Today,
however, was relatively tame with market c...
Fri, Jul 26 2013, 12:33 PM
At this point the day has gone off almost perfectly as scripted.
Overnight data and events were irrelevant and did nothing to move bond
markets. ...
Fri, Jul 26 2013, 10:52 AM
The cost, efficacy and fairness of the
mortgage interest deduction ( MID ) are part of nearly every discussion
in Washington about the tax code, h...
Fri, Jul 26 2013, 10:25 AM
I am fortunate enough to do a little speaking, and in fact next week
am heading to New York for a Sterling National Bank event. But I
received thi...
