Fri, Sep 27 2024, 5:22 PM
Finally Cooling Off Just in Time to Heat Up Again
Much of the past week has been spent monitoring the "post-...
Fri, Sep 27 2024, 5:10 PM
'Tis the season for things to be something other than what they appear to be, apparently. Lenders are talking about new loan limits, but they haven't ...
Fri, Sep 27 2024, 12:05 PM
Just a few months ago, the big ticket inflation reports were just as relevant as the jobs report in terms of their ability to cause movement in the bo...
Fri, Sep 27 2024, 11:49 AM
“Who was the first person that used technology? Moses. He had two tablets that were connected to the cloud.” Technology is a two-edged sword. On the o...
Thu, Sep 26 2024, 5:14 PM
More Resilient Today, But It's Still All About Data
The bond market is still searching for its identity in t...
Thu, Sep 26 2024, 3:25 PM
Because we created the industry's first daily mortgage rate index based on actual lender rate sheets without any subjective distortions, and because t...
Thu, Sep 26 2024, 11:41 AM
At the risk of tempting fate by discussing a leveling-off of the post-Fed correction again, the overnight session saw the most compelling case yet for...
Thu, Sep 26 2024, 11:39 AM
We’re all following Hurricane Helene and its impact on lives and housing stock in the news. Will Rogers famously said, “All I know is what I read in t...
Wed, Sep 25 2024, 4:49 PM
Is it Time to Worry About Bond Market Losses?
Ever since Fed day, it seems the bond market only really knows...
Wed, Sep 25 2024, 4:14 PM
Mortgage rates hit their lowest levels in more than a year and a half last Tuesday as the bond market put the finishing touches on its preparation for...
Wed, Sep 25 2024, 11:54 AM
“My people skills are fine. It's my tolerance for idiots that needs work.” Fortunately, in our business we have very, very few of those, and certainly...
Wed, Sep 25 2024, 11:35 AM
The bond market is in a bit of a lull with any excess buying demand flowing to the shorter end of the yield curve. Meanwhile, the long end has been d...
Tue, Sep 24 2024, 4:46 PM
Early Weakness Erased After Labor Market Warning Signs
The first few hours of domestic trading caused some c...
Tue, Sep 24 2024, 4:32 PM
The Federal Reserve is far from the only game in town when it comes to exerting influence on interest rates. That's a loaded statement, of course, co...
Tue, Sep 24 2024, 11:59 AM
Today I leave Illinois, with the world’s largest corn maze, and head to Nebraska, with the world’s largest ball of stamps, things that make life inter...
Tue, Sep 24 2024, 10:50 AM
Monday's trading session offered some hope that the post-Fed correction was losing steam, but purely from a technical standpoint. All we really know ...
Mon, Sep 23 2024, 4:57 PM
Post Fed Correction Leveling Off?
Based on the weakness in the bond market this morning, it looked as if the...
Mon, Sep 23 2024, 4:35 PM
Mortgage rates rose modestly last week after hitting long term lows before the Fed announced its 0.50% rate cut. In not so many words, mortgage rates...
Mon, Sep 23 2024, 11:39 AM
Summer has officially come and gone; the autumn equinox was yesterday. Columbus Day, Halloween, Veteran’s Day, and Thanksgiving are in the coming mont...
Mon, Sep 23 2024, 10:42 AM
We closed last week with the idea of "buy the rumor, sell the news" seemingly being a good way to think about the time leading into and away from the ...
Fri, Sep 20 2024, 4:20 PM
Modestly Weaker But Ultimately Uneventful
In terms of the realized volatility relative to potential volatili...
Fri, Sep 20 2024, 3:42 PM
Credit where credit is due: the rate market did an outstanding job of getting out in front of the Fed rate cut as well as the changes to the Fed's rat...
Fri, Sep 20 2024, 11:48 AM
“Someone asked me if I had plans for the fall. It took me a moment to realize they meant ‘autumn’ and not the fall of civilization.” The Autumn solsti...
Fri, Sep 20 2024, 10:32 AM
Wednesday's Fed rate cut was the worst kept secret in the financial world for months, and the 50bp rate cut was increasingly suspected in the week lea...
Thu, Sep 19 2024, 4:02 PM
MBS Easily Outperform Longer-Term Treasuries
Few market watchers would have guessed that MBS would have held...
Thu, Sep 19 2024, 3:47 PM
Today's release of Freddie Mac's Primary Mortgage Market Survey took at bad problem and made it worse. Freddie's survey methodology means that today'...
Thu, Sep 19 2024, 3:37 PM
The post-Fed overnight session was surprisingly calm. In fact, relative to the magnitude of yesterday's events and information, this is surely one of...
Thu, Sep 19 2024, 11:58 AM
“A Native American, pirate, and Frenchman walk into a bar. The bartender says, ‘Gentlemen, hau, arrrrrrr, oui, today?’” No one has to sound out “s-u-m...
Wed, Sep 18 2024, 5:16 PM
Bonds Lose Ground Despite Larger Fed Rate Cut
The Fed was either going to cut 0.50% or 0.25% today. It o...
Wed, Sep 18 2024, 4:59 PM
We publish daily coverage of mortgage rate movement and have done so for nearly 20 years now. It's a great place to quickly check in on rate trends a...
Wed, Sep 18 2024, 11:53 AM
“Q: What does a dyslexic pirate say? A: RRRRRRA!” Humor aside, many in our industry have faced adversity, dyslexia and more, and I received this note:...
Wed, Sep 18 2024, 9:31 AM
There is special providence in a 50bp Fed rate cut. If it be now, 'tis not to come (until the next Fed meeting perhaps). If it be not to come, it wi...
Tue, Sep 17 2024, 3:39 PM
What Matters in Wednesday's Fed Announcement?
The ongoing disagreement in the market regarding the size of W...
Tue, Sep 17 2024, 3:19 PM
Mortgage rates have fallen nearly 2% from last year's peak. Much of that decrease can be viewed as the normal phenomenon of longer term rates getting...
Tue, Sep 17 2024, 11:43 AM
Does it give you a sense of permanency if you think about how you’re looking at the same moon as pirates did 300-400 years ago? There’s a lunar eclips...
Tue, Sep 17 2024, 11:30 AM
This morning's Retail Sales headline was stronger than expected, but the sub-components (analogous to something like core CPI as opposed to headline C...
Mon, Sep 16 2024, 4:04 PM
Just Another Day of Waiting
Bonds started stronger, retraced back to 'unchanged' following the manufacturing...
Mon, Sep 16 2024, 3:18 PM
The new week began on a relatively quiet note in terms of mortgage rate movement and the underlying bond market. There was modest volatility earlier...
Mon, Sep 16 2024, 12:06 PM
So far in the new week, bonds have rallied a bit in the overnight session and sold off a bit after this morning's stronger NY Fed Manufacturing data. ...
Mon, Sep 16 2024, 11:48 AM
The Pirate goes to the dermatologist and says, “Arrg, I got moles.” The dermatologist says, “Don’t worry, they’re benign.” The Pirate replies, “Arrg, ...
Fri, Sep 13 2024, 4:16 PM
Fed Week Uncertainty Makes For Logical Consolidation
Bonds rallied sharply just over a month ago following a...
Fri, Sep 13 2024, 3:55 PM
We've talked a lot about why the Fed rate cut will have no additional positive impact on mortgage rates next week. Everything the market can already ...
Fri, Sep 13 2024, 11:44 AM
“I pay you to handle my loan and give me a good program with a competitive rate, not predict things you can’t.” At a recent event, a top originator to...
Fri, Sep 13 2024, 10:39 AM
Today's only potentially relevant economic data was the 10am Consumer Sentiment data. This report comes out twice a month, once in "preliminary" form...
Thu, Sep 12 2024, 4:34 PM
Modest Resistance, But No Big Bad Correction
Unless Friday's Consumer Sentiment data manages to surprise in ...
Thu, Sep 12 2024, 4:19 PM
While it's true that there have only been 8 business days so far this month, it's also true that today is the only one of the 8 where mortgage rates h...
Thu, Sep 12 2024, 11:52 AM
“Honey, what did you do today?” “Well…” People do some cockamamie stuff against all odds. What are the odds of a lender or LO retaining their client a...
Thu, Sep 12 2024, 10:43 AM
Thursday brings this week's last opportunity for the market to react to moderately important economic data before next week's Fed announcement. So fa...
Wed, Sep 11 2024, 3:42 PM
Does Today's Inflation Data Change Anything?
Bonds initially sold off following the higher-than-expected cor...
Wed, Sep 11 2024, 3:31 PM
Mortgage rates moved lower again today despite a key inflation report coming in higher than expected. This is counterintuitive for anyone who's been ...