evan@evanhitch.com

Before looking at trading screens this morning, the first order of business would have been to mention the ramp up in economic calendar activity. While the line item count is respectable, it’s really only the 10am Job Openings data that packs enough of a punch to represent any serious volatility risk. Even then, sometimes it […]

Volatility Risk Ramps Up From Here Monday made it clear that traders are playing by the typical summertime, holiday week rules which often see the first day of the week result in very low volume and volatility. While participation should remain lighter than normal, that’s no guaranty of an ongoing absence of volatility. Even if

Mortgage rates ended last week at the lowest level since May 14th. Most of the recent drop happened last Wednesday, but each day since then has added a microscopic improvement. Today was no exception with the 30yr fixed rate index falling a mere 0.01%–the lowest increment we measure. The calendar of economic events was completely

Lenders often ask about improving their execution, and STRATMOR’s current blog is “Pricing That Can Help Borrowers.” MLOs occasionally ask about an online tool that can help potential borrowers understand the process. Here’s something for your new clients, especially those who are first-time home buyers: a short quiz to get them started on what to

At the risk of jinxing it, Monday is pretty much already in the back as an uneventful start to a holiday-shortened week (early close on Thursday and fully closed on Friday). Bonds were very flat overnight and are near unchanged levels in the first few hours. Unchanged is good in this case as it means

Early Gains. Flat Afternoon. MBS Underperform Friday ended up offering a boring conclusion to a week that had at least some measure of excitement on Wednesday. Bonds started a hair stronger, lost ground modestly and then rallied to the day’s best levels by noon. From there, 10yr yields went perfectly sideways in an ultra narrow

We know that a) Congress passed a housing bill which, if not signed within 10 days, becomes law anyway, and b) U.S. presidents are known to be candid. Once again, we see the intersection of housing, lending, and politics with not only the postponement by the President of signing the bill, but also the statement

Q2 has been one of the best quarters for stocks going all the way back to the dot com boom, even after the 4-5% pullback in June. This has created a massive quarter-end rebalancing need among money managers and we’ve seen that random volatility play out in both stocks and bonds over the past few

Mostly Holding Yesterday’s Big Gains Bonds began the day in modestly weaker territory, but not weak enough to take 10yr yields above the 4.42% technical level. That was a notable development even before considering subsequent movement. The 8:30am PCE inflation data made room for a friendly reversal with modest losses being replaced by modest improvement.

Mortgage rates had a great day yesterday, moving within 0.01% of the lowest levels in more than a month. They dropped just a bit more today and are now officially the lowest they’ve been since May 14th.  Today’s improvement was more of an afterthought, but nonetheless helps legitimize yesterday’s heavy lifting as something other than