Mortgage rates continued higher for the 2nd straight day after hitting the lowest levels in more than 7 months earlier this week. Wednesday's big move lower was a direct result of political headlines relating to potential wrongdoing in communications between Trump and former FBI Director Comey concerning the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Flynn's communication with Russia. Specifically, financial markets perked up when a story broke suggesting that the House Oversight Committee could easily demand these records. The most widely-discussed implication (assuming wrongdo... (read more)

Mortgage rates were slightly higher for the 3rd straight day, continuing a modest bounce back from the year's lowest rates last Wednesday. In a nutshell, bond markets (which dictate mortgage rates) reacted in a big way to last week's political headlines, and have since been biding their time as markets wait for further developments. In the current case, "biding time" has meant a nominal pull-back from Wednesday's stellar levels--not uncommon in similar cases where unexpected headlines drive a somewhat panicked move in financial markets. While the general movement in rates has been slightly hig... (read more)