Wed, Sep 1 2021, 11:00 AM
The stated goal of the ADP Employment Report is to predict the final revision of the US government's non-farm payroll number. Assessing its efficacy ...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 4:56 PM
Mortgage rates were unchanged to slightly higher today, depending on the lender. The differences in pricing strategies stem from the timing of changes...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 4:21 PM
Weaker Data Offset by European Tapering Fears
Bonds improved after weaker economic data this morning. Trade...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 12:09 PM
Tuesday morning wasted no time in confirming the relevance of economic data to the current bond market environment. When Chicago PMI came out weaker ...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 11:09 AM
In a report released on Monday, CoreLogic recaps investor activity in the housing market over the last decade. Its Investor Homebuying Report highligh...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 11:05 AM
Annual price gains remained at a double-digit pace in June. Both The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller indices and the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA...
Tue, Aug 31 2021, 10:48 AM
I received some exciting news that I wanted to share with my readers. I received an invitation from a mortgage periodical to receive an award, if I pa...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 5:35 PM
Jackson Hole Follow Through Helps Bonds Hold The Range
Bonds were at the top of their recent range last Frid...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 4:27 PM
Mortgage rates drifted lower again today, with the average lender getting back down to the lowest levels since the first week of August. In a general ...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 12:22 PM
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) have told their borrowers and mortgage servicers that they are offering immediate relief options to those a...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 11:31 AM
Last week's theme was simple: sell bonds until hearing what Fed Chair Powell had to say in his Jackson Hole speech, then buy bonds when Powell simply ...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 11:01 AM
The Texas Mortgage Bankers Association conference is in full swing. Folks tell me that servicing is a big topic in informal hallway discussions. MCT d...
Mon, Aug 30 2021, 10:53 AM
While existing home sales have increased in the last two months after a four-month slump, those sales don't look especially bright as we head into the...
Fri, Aug 27 2021, 3:23 PM
Powell Sticks to Script. Bonds Like It
Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole speech has come and gone without caus...
Fri, Aug 27 2021, 10:53 AM
Last night, my wife asked me if I’d seen the dog bowl. I replied, “I didn’t know he could.” Words are important, and the press is spending plenty of t...
Fri, Aug 27 2021, 10:00 AM
Much has been made of the Fed's Jackson Hole symposium in 2021 and in a general sense throughout the years. On some years, the anticipation has prove...
Thu, Aug 26 2021, 3:43 PM
Bonds Leveling Off But Not Out of The Woods
Bonds began the day with a test of the important technical ceili...
Thu, Aug 26 2021, 2:36 PM
Mortgage rates stabilized today after moving higher at a moderately quick pace over the past 2 days. To be sure, today's rates are definitely higher t...
Thu, Aug 26 2021, 11:24 AM
What parent hasn’t heard, “Are we there yet?” from the back seat during a road trip? The same could be said about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Gove...
Thu, Aug 26 2021, 10:51 AM
Bonds are either on the doorstep of critical line in the sand, or they soon will be. These lines are drawn on the technical ceilings at 1.37% and 1.4...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 4:09 PM
Yields Searching For a Pre-Fed Ceiling
Although the week began in forgettable fashion, Tuesday saw yields mo...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 2:32 PM
Early in the pandemic (Version I) there were a lot of theories advanced about its lasting effects on housing. Some of the theories were fanciful. Thes...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 10:50 AM
In the various originator-centric conferences I’ve attended, I’ve never seen a session on, “How to beat up your capital markets group on pricing & ext...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 10:45 AM
Both refinance and purchase applications increased slightly last week , and the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said its Market Composite Index, a ...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 10:25 AM
The profits of independent mortgage banks and bank mortgage subsidiaries took their third straight tumble in the second quarter of this year. Those pr...
Wed, Aug 25 2021, 8:06 AM
Although the week began in forgettable fashion, Tuesday saw yields move up at a moderate pace with no overt provocation. Indeed a quick glance at the ...
Tue, Aug 24 2021, 4:32 PM
Increasingly Defensive Ahead of Jackson Hole
Bonds sold off moderately and steadily all day without any clea...
Tue, Aug 24 2021, 2:36 PM
After a sharp increase to start the year and significant improvements between April and mid July, mortgage rates have been fairly flat for more than a...
Tue, Aug 24 2021, 11:00 AM
New home sales recovered slightly in July after two months which saw the annual rate of sales dip by an aggregate of more than 100,000 units. The U.S....
Tue, Aug 24 2021, 10:57 AM
Worried about your privacy? You should be. Illinois’ Lemonade, an AI-enabled provider of homeowners and renters insurance, was hit with a privacy clas...
Tue, Aug 24 2021, 10:37 AM
MBS and Treasuries do such a good job traveling together that it's especially notable when they diverge. That's doubly true on days like today where ...
Mon, Aug 23 2021, 4:49 PM
Mortgage rates are only adjusted once per day by default. From there, the underlying bond market would need to improve or deteriorate by a certain amo...
Mon, Aug 23 2021, 4:40 PM
Treasuries Slide Sideways as MBS Outperform
The most notable development today was the outperformance on the...
Mon, Aug 23 2021, 2:11 PM
Existing homes sales posted the second consecutive increase in July after breaking out of a slump in June that had endured for four months. The Nation...
Mon, Aug 23 2021, 11:36 AM
The Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium has often served as a venue for the Fed Chair to offer a sneak preview of impending policy changes or simply t...
Mon, Aug 23 2021, 10:49 AM
Fires in California, floods in Tennessee, hurricanes in New York, COVID hospitalizations seemingly everywhere written up by the press. The “fun” never...
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 5:35 PM
Rates are on hold until the next chapter is written in the complex saga of covid versus the market. This isn't to say rates perfectly flat--simply tha...
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 4:07 PM
Moderate Weakness For Uneventful Reasons
Bonds lost some ground today with 10yr yields up roughly 2bps headi...
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 1:42 PM
Fannie Mae's economists provided a mixed forecast this month. The baseline view of the company's Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) group is for th...
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 1:39 PM
The federal foreclosure moratoria expired at the end of July and, with some 1.45 million borrowers seriously delinquent on their mortgages but not in ...
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 10:46 AM
Who wants to work on a Friday in summer? Not me! I was pleased to find the Type The Alphabet Game , which times you on how fast you type the alphabet....
Fri, Aug 20 2021, 10:33 AM
It's a good time to revisit the primer on illiquidity unless the term is 2nd nature for you (here it is). Illiquidity is definitely a factor today as ...
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 5:25 PM
It seemed like a simple solution for expanding the credit profile of many first-time homebuyers, but Fannie Mae's new plan to utilize rent payment his...
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 5:20 PM
The July report on residential construction from the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that permits increased d...
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 4:31 PM
Bonds Finally Have a Boring Day
10yr yields traded in a range of less than 3bps during the domestic session ...
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 3:25 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly lower today as the bond market improved for the 2nd straight day. When bonds prices move higher, bond yields (or rates) m...
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 11:23 AM
In late July, bonds rode a wave of momentum toward lower yields with many traders targeting the 1.25% zone in 10yr Treasuries. That floor was broken o...
Thu, Aug 19 2021, 11:02 AM
So you say that you never learn anything by reading this Commentary? How about Wile E. Coyote's middle name? His first name is an obvious pun on the w...
Wed, Aug 18 2021, 4:31 PM
Bonds Sell Rumor, Buy New on Inconsequential Fed Minutes
A lot has happened in the past 3 months--especially...
Wed, Aug 18 2021, 3:58 PM
Mortgage rates haven't been skyrocketing, by any means, but they have been moving up in fits and starts over the past 2 weeks. Today was just another ...
