evan@evanhitch.com

Noticeably Lighter Volatility. Why? Wednesday offered a welcome break from the pervasive volatility seen since the start of the Iran war. It was among the narrowest trading ranges of any single day in March, especially during domestic trading hours. This is somewhat surprising considering the preponderance of contradictory newswires and headlines concerning the state of […]

The past 24 hours have seen multiple news stories with seemingly contradictory updates regarding the state of the Iran war. There’s a ceasefire. There’s no ceasefire. There’s negotiation. There’s no negotiation, etc. As far as the rate market is concerned, the most important development has been the general appearance of a shift toward diplomacy and

Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders A restaurant can seem like the picture of efficiency…until the kitchen falls behind. Guests are seated, orders are taken, and everything appears to move seamlessly. But when what happens up front is not fully connected to what is happening behind the scenes, delays build quickly, and the

There have been various comments from U.S. officials about ending the war for several weeks (i.e. on March 9th, Trump said the war could be over soon). Yesterday’s developments (Trump comments on the war being “won” and the 30-day ceasefire news from Israel) are being taken more seriously by markets or at least seriously enough

Juxtaposition of Escalation and De-escalation Keeping Bonds Volatile Tuesday was notable for financial markets’ attempts to trade the Iran war due to the conspicuous juxtaposition of newswires that spoke to opposing developments. Around 1pm ET, troop deployment news sent yields to the highs of the day. A little over an hour later, the newswires gave

March 2026 continues to be an unpleasant month for mortgage rates–a fact almost exclusively due to the Iran war. Even if the war were to end today, there’s been sufficient disruption to infrastructure and a big enough initial spike in energy prices to create what economists refer to as “second round effects.” In simpler terms,

Sometimes life comes down to a coin toss. Here in Virginia Beach, at the Southern Trust Mortgage Sales Summit, a conversation topic is originators not leaving their business to chance. Pricing practices are rarely left to chance, and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to the CEO of Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), to inform

Even though there were doubts about their scope and impact, yesterday morning’s headlines introduced the prospect of some sort of ceasefire in the Iran war. Markets traded accordingly, including the “doubts” part (i.e. there was an initial rebound yesterday and an additional rebound this morning). 10yr yields have now fully erased yesterday morning’s gains even

Decent Gains Amid De-Escalation Headlines Don’t worry about what actually happened, who actually spoke to whom, and the details of the conversations that may or may not have happened. Today’s simplest fact is that the President said things that can be filed under the heading of “de-escalation” of the Iran war and markets were obviously and

Mortgage rates are dictated by bonds and bonds had a volatile day. During overnight trading hours, bonds suggested we should brace for the impact of even higher rates. Things changed just after 7am ET following headlines that suggested progress on the Iran war.  Although volatility continued in the ensuing hours, bonds ultimately settled in stronger