Mortgage News Daily

• Weaker Afternoon, But Still Uneventful December 27, 2024
  Weaker Afternoon, But Still Uneventful Bonds began the day in decent shape by pushing back against weakness during European hours.  MBS were briefly in just-barely-positive territory in the first hour.  Things deteriorated very slowly, but very steadily after that.  It took the entire trading session for MBS to give up an eighth of a point.  […]
• Mortgage Rates Little Changed Today, This Year, And Over The Past 2 Years December 27, 2024
  Mortgage rates didn't move much today, and markets have been very quiet due to the holiday week.  So we'll take a quick moment for a retrospective. In September 2022, 30yr fixed mortgage rates crested 7% for the first time in more than 2 decades. The following year saw rates move momentarily under 6% and over […]
• Processor Efficiency, Commercial Lending; Agency News; Tariff Primer for Lenders December 27, 2024
  “I've just checked my home insurance policy and apparently if my blanket is stolen in the middle of the night, I’m not covered.” For many home owners, taxes and insurance now cost more every month than the mortgage. Is the cost of some imported merchandise from some countries about to go up? Will anyone notice […]
• Weaker in Europe, But Reasonably Resilient in Early US Trading December 27, 2024
  Not that any of this week's trading activity matters in the bigger picture, but things have been reasonably resilient after Monday's selling.  Tuesday and Thursday saw more selling, but each day ended with a solid recovery.  Thursday was especially solid with help from the 7yr Treasury auction.  In today's overnight session, European markets reopened after […]
• Friendly Reversal Thanks to 7yr Treasury Auction December 26, 2024
  Friendly Reversal Thanks to 7yr Treasury Auction The day began as so many days over the past few months with bonds moving higher in yield for reasons that transcend the typical economic data or news headlines. The Christmas holiday week is particularly random in terms of directionality due to low volume and liquidity.  That ended up […]
• Mortgage Rates Start Higher, But Recover in Afternoon December 26, 2024
  Mortgage rates are based on trading levels in the bond market and bond market activity has been extremely slow, as is normally the case during the Christmas holiday week.  The side effect of the slow activity is the risk of more random volatility.  In other words, bonds (and thus rates) can move in either direction […]
• Wholesale and Correspondent Products; Primer on the MBS Market; Steepening Yield Curve December 26, 2024
  “My housemates are convinced our house is haunted. I don't get it. I've lived here for 273 years and haven’t noticed anything strange.” Many people would be just fine with a haunted house. There are many building-related developments that would help the nation’s housing shortage, if only the Agencies or investors or local areas were […]
• Have You Heard The One About "Path of Least Resistance?" December 26, 2024
  Bonds are back in the office for a few days, at least in the sense that there are no holiday scheduled changes, and they've wasted no time getting right back to the messaging that's been in force for most of the month. Specifically, the path of least resistance is for longer term rates to move […]
• Time For One of Those "Path of Least Resistance" Headlines December 24, 2024
  Bonds are selling off for no obvious reasons for however many days in a row it's been (at least 2 unless you count last Thursday). Episodes like this result in bond analysts dusting off phrases like "the path of least resistance"--typically only ever seen with selling pressure.  This path arguably began in early December after […]
• Christmas Eve: CFPB, RESPA, Rocket, Walmart, and lawsuits December 24, 2024
  In the news, besides American Airlines grounding all flights (it’s back running now), is Burt, the 90-year-old crocodile from Crocodile Dundee, dying yesterday in Australia. My guess is that he’s long retired from doing much of anything. What do retired mortgage bankers do, besides immediately considering re-entering the business? Here’s one solution from Minnesota. Others […]