Mortgage News Daily
- Reasonably Reserved Reaction to Tariff Headlines January 31, 2025Reasonably Reserved Reaction to Tariff Headlines If you were just watching headlines and making note of MBS Live alerts, it may have seemed like today's tariff news was a big deal for rates. And while tariffs definitely hit harder than this morning's PCE data, bonds are nonetheless heading out the door with only modest losses on […]
- Mortgage Rates Round Out Eerily Calm Week January 31, 2025For all of the news that seems to be highly likely to cause volatility for rates, the market reaction ended up playing out on a very small scale. The biggest day of movement was Monday, with rates opening moderately lower versus the previous week after the big AI-driven stock sell-off pushed some investors into the […]
- Temporary Volatility After As-Expected PCE Data January 31, 2025This morning's PCE inflation data was in line with expectations with the annual core PCE price index coming in at 2.8% and the monthly core coming in at 0.2%. The initial reaction was weaker, possibly because the 0.2% monthly number is not low enough to suggest a quick return to the 2.0% annual target. As […]
- FHA Underwriting, POS, Community Lending Products; Maryland's Lending Quagmire January 31, 2025Here in Las Vegas, I asked a German girl if Germans are afraid of numbers. She said 9. Numbers are interesting, as we will find out with the declared Trump tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Do you know the difference between an American roulette wheel and a European wheel? The American version has “00.” Fans […]
- Solid Showing In Spite of Data and Uncertainty January 30, 2025Solid Showing In Spite of Data and Uncertainty The relevance of economic data increased this morning with the release of Q4 GDP and Jobless Claims. Neither were good for rates although neither were especially bad. Right after the data, the overnight rally gave way to moderate selling pressure and, ultimately, a return to unchanged levels […]
- Lowest Rates in Over a Month, But There's a Catch January 30, 2025Interest rates are driven by the bond market and bonds are at their best levels in over a month. As such, it's no surprise that mortgage rates are able to make a similar claim. In fact, we'd need to go back to December 20th to see a lower average rate for top tier 30yr fixed […]
- Pending Home Sales Pull Back From Best Levels Since April 2023 January 30, 2025The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) for December this morning. Pending sales measures the number signed purchase contracts for existing homes. As such, the index is a good early indicator for Existing Home Sales in the coming month. Pending sales dropped 5.5% from last month, which was the […]
- Stronger Start + Early Weakness January 30, 2025Bonds rallied in overnight trading. The move was exceptionally linear, without any obvious regard for movement in equities or European bonds. Yields were at session lows ahead of the 8:30am data, but have moved steadily higher afterword. The early weakness almost perfectly offsets the overnight gains, leaving bonds close to unchanged heading into the PM […]
- POS, Servicing Tools; Fraud, Home Equity, IMB Studies; New Companies Doing New Things January 30, 2025Any capital markets person will tell you, “What’s a surefire way to double your money in a casino? Fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.” I am in Las Vegas for First Colony’s Loan Officer Retreat, watching the tragic air news from Washington, and the MBA’s IMB in Austin has come […]
- Uneventful Fed Day, Bonds Eventually Agree January 29, 2025Uneventful Fed Day, Bonds Eventually Agree There's never a way to know with certainty that a Fed announcement will be uneventful, but if we had to assign relative probabilities, today's looked much more likely than normal to pass without a trace. In the immediate wake of the announcement, that didn't look like it was going […]