Eerily Calm and Strong For 2nd Straight Day After being heavily conditioned to expect elevated volatility with unpredictable timing, the past two trading sessions have been tremendous departures from the norm. Both days featured linear, reasonably big  improvements without any singular flashpoints that deserve any more credit than a general… Read more

The news on mortgage rates has been frustratingly mixed recently, depending on the source. This is a factor of the various time frames and methodologies employed by different purveyors of rate data. If you're reading this, however, none of that matters because the following is as timely as it gets:… Read more

As is the case for the monthly data on New Home Sales from the Census Bureau, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Existing Home Sales report does not make for exciting news these days. It's not that the news is tragic or alarming either.  It just sort of… is. Whereas… Read more

The Census Bureau released March New Home Sales data this week, and it was near the best levels seen since early 2022.  Before you get too excited about that, a caveat is in order.  Simply put, when it comes to housing market data, nothing has been more uneventful than new … Read more

What if your client called the CFPB about a servicing issue, or any issue, and no one answered? Things are changing, but for a thorough write up on the current situation, check out Debra Gaveglio & Donna Schmidt’s “Harmonizing Regulatory Compliance and Industry Perspectives: Leveraging Consumer Protection and Mortgage Servicing… Read more

Today's only scheduled economic report is Consumer Sentiment. Nonetheless, we would classify today as being "data free" because this is simply the final reading of the preliminary release 2 weeks ago.  It's the preliminary release that tends to move markets. Case in point, there was no reaction to this morning's… Read more

Solid Bond Rally For Debatable Reasons Bonds improved moderately well overnight and added to those gains steadily during the domestic session.  Ask 10 traders why and you might not get 10 different answers, but it would be at least 5. Improvement in the tariff outlook is a common refrain, but… Read more

Mortgage rates continue the slow, bumpy process of healing from the rapid rise seen 2 weeks ago. Last week was a solid victory in that sense with rates moving steadily and meaningfully lower without any major rebounds. The present week started out on shakier footing as rates lurched higher on… Read more

What's "normal" for the bond market? That depends how far back you want to look.  Starting in late February, we had about a month of mostly sideways movement in a relatively narrow range as we waited for clarity on new fiscal policies and economic data. The tariff roll-out shook things… Read more

“I hate it when I see an old person and then realize we went to high school together.” Nothing lasts forever, not top lenders or even computer companies. We may reach the point where only old people remember Tandem Computers, Commodore Business Machines, or Fairchild Semiconductor, all thought to be… Read more

So you want to buy a house but already own. These are your options. Many current homeowners would like to sell their home and trade up or down but aren’t sure how in this competitive Real Estate market. If you’re not feeling stuck because of a 2% pandemic era interest… Read more

Bonds Lose Almost All The Gains After Inflation Warnings in The Data Bonds started out sharply stronger today after Trump walked back previous comments on Fed Chair Powell. Headlines regarding lower tariffs for China also helped, but they helped stocks more. The good times began unravelling with the 9:45am S&P… Read more

Mortgage rates are an extension of the financial market, so it's no surprise that they've been more volatile than normal over the past few weeks as markets react to fiscal headlines. The latest dust-up involved Trump's criticism of Fed Chair Powell which resulted in higher rates over the weekend. Now… Read more

“I won a million dollars and donated a quarter of it to charity! I now have $999999.75 left.” Money can be funny… or not. In the past, a “flight to quality” or “flight to safety” didn’t involve feckless investors searching for a place to park their money when there was… Read more

Two factors had been contributing more than others to drive bond yields higher as of yesterday.  The broader, ongoing factor is/was the tariff/trade stand-off with China. Whether approached through the lens of inflation or decreased foreign appetite for USD assets (a byproduct of decreased consumption of foreign imports), excessive tariffs… Read more