Today we have a press conference with HUD Secretary Scott Turner and U.S. Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte announcing “a significant development in the U.S. housing finance system” at 12:45PM ET. Rumors run the gamut from “operationalizing” VantageScore to moving control of the FHA & VA programs under Pulte and the FHFA. Meanwhile, the capital […]
As a testament to just how confident the market is/was that neither side is overly interested in escalating the Iran war, Tuesday night’s ceasefire deadline has come and gone with surprisingly little fanfare. Yes, the ceasefire was technically extended, but the more relevant point is that oil prices have traded inside a 4 dollar range
Hurrying Up And Waiting Read More »
Ceasefire Uncertainty Adds to Losses Bonds were just a bit weaker this morning after the weekly ADP data. Just before 11am ET, several newswires called ceasefire negotiations into question. Chief among these was a report that Iran had not confirmed its intent to participate. Despite the seemingly significant consequences, bonds only rose about 2bps in terms
Ceasefire Uncertainty Adds to Losses Read More »
Technically and officially, today’s average top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate is the highest since last Monday. The catch is that there hasn’t been much movement since then with the overall range being limited to 0.04%. Today’s jump was the largest upward movement during that time. There was some upward pressure on rates from stronger
Highest Rates in a Week But There’s a Catch Read More »
Wholesale and Correspondent Product and Corporate News Homebridge Financial Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest privately held non-bank mortgage lenders, has officially signed an agreement to merge with an affiliate of Saluda Grade, a premier independent alternative investment firm (founded in 2019 with approximately $4.4 billion in assets under management). This powerful partnership marks
Heading into the day, the 8:30am Retail Sales data was the obvious pick among the available economic reports to be a potential market mover. Reality had other ideas… weird ones. After months and months without any major reaction, this morning’s weekly ADP employment finally made its presence felt, even if only by the smallest of
Barely Weaker After Weekly ADP Data (Not Retail Sales) Read More »
War in the Middle East made oil prices go up, higher oil prices hurt world economies and stock markets because prices and inflation go up, and higher inflation leads to higher interest rates. At least, that’s the way it usually works, as does the opposite. Last week stock markets surged as pivotal geopolitical development reshaped
Heading into the weekend, all indications were about as promising as they have been that the war was heading toward a peaceful conclusion. This was reflected in oil prices and Treasury yields being at multi-week lows (and stocks at all-time highs). But over the weekend, the U.S. fired on and seized an Iranian ship, and
Bonds Only Modestly Weaker After New Escalation Over The Weekend Read More »
AM Gains Mostly Stick Around Everything interesting about today occurred before 9am ET (several war-related headlines that prompted a sharp rally in bonds). The rest of the day was spent drifting mostly sideways. Stocks continued their surge to new all-time highs. Oil prices fell in concert with the bond rally, briefly dipping below $80/bbl. Market
AM Gains Mostly Stick Around Read More »
Today was a victory for mortgage rates, but not nearly as much of a victory as the underlying bond market would suggest. The good news is that the end result is the lowest average 30yr fixed rate in just over a month. The other news isn’t bad, per se, but it is a bit confusing.
Lowest Rates in Over a Month Despite Small Move Today Read More »