evan@evanhitch.com

Bonds Drift Weaker Despite Lower Oil Prices Although they still technically made positive progress versus the end of last week, bonds ended the day moderately weaker. Lower oil prices offered no support, but that’s a tricky correlation these days. Longer-term oil contracts continue lining up with bond yield movement more reliably. To be sure, we […]

If we’re splitting hairs, today’s average mortgage rates are technically higher than yesterday’s, but the change is so small that it’s just as fair to say that rates are flat. This closes out a week with surprisingly low volatility compared to that seen in March. In part, this can be attributed to longer-term oil prices

Mortgage applications dipped again last week, though the pace of decline slowed considerably. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a 0.8% decrease on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending April 3. Refinance activity continued to weaken, with the Refinance Index falling 3% from the previous week and now sitting 4% below year-ago levels.

Products, Services, and Software for Brokers and Lenders Yesterday this Commentary mentioned a guide titled, “AI in the Workplace: Acceptable Use Policies, Data Risk, and the Discovery Trap.” Many wrote for the piece, which is now posted on the internet! Spring EQ (NMLS# 1464945) is hosting a webinar next week (Tuesday, April 14 at 2:00

The median forecast for monthly core CPI was 0.28% (0.3 after rounding up for most econ calendars). Today’s actual number was 0.196–obviously quite a bit lower than forecasts. In addition, supercore fell to .179 from .349. Despite those victories, forecasts correctly predicted a sharp rise in headline inflation which moved up from 2.4% to 3.3%

Roughly Unchanged After Moderate Headline-Driven Volatility As has been the recent custom, there were dueling headlines concerning the Iran war today with opposing claims regarding the status of the Israel/Lebanon ceasefire. If that sounds like kind of a stretch when it comes to bond market significance, bond traders agreed.  That said, it was still traded

Many borrowers will see no difference between yesterday and today’s mortgage rate quotes. The average lender moved just a hair lower. Once again, the rate market is responding to war-related headlines and their impact on oil prices. Rates don’t always care what oil prices are doing, but at present, there’s more correlation than normal due

VantageScore, created in 2006, is a joint venture by the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Will it change your lending process? Possibly. Do government regulations change your lending process? States have trigger lead requirement overlays, over and above what was enacted at the Federal level in March. (Talk to your attorney.) Some

The overnight session leading into this morning’s open was completely sideways–especially compared to yesterday’s example. The boatload of econ data line items did nothing to change that. Expectations weren’t high anyway. GDP (Q4) and monthly PCE (February) are both too stale to matter. Jobless Claims were a mixed bag with initial claims rising substantially and

Bonds Lose Almost All The Overnight Gains Bonds rallied sharply overnight–adding onto an already decent rally yesterday afternoon that took 10yr yields from 4.38% to 4.23% in less than 24 hours. Now at Wednesday’s close, we’re back to unchanged levels near 4.30%.  The move follows a similar correction seen in longer-term oil futures and, in