Mortgage News Daily

• Placeholder Day Ahead of Jobs Report May 2, 2024
  Thursday was always destined to be the least interesting day of current week due to its lack of meaningful calendar events, but that doesn't mean we can't see a bit of volatility for other reasons.  The morning hours have generally been good for bonds with overnight gains only briefly interrupted in the 9am hour.  This […]
• Hedging, Wholesale and Correspondent Products, 4506 vs. 8821, U/W Automation, Recapitalization Possibilities May 2, 2024
  Not all, but many, capital markets folks spent their college years rolling up their sleeves. Some not so much. When originators are asked about interest rates, some LOs may use the line in the clip above: “Oh, man. I only ride them; I don't know what makes them work.” (The current STRATMOR blog is titled, […]
• Decent Data and Palatable Powell May 1, 2024
  Decent Data and Palatable Powell Bonds managed modest to moderate gains after digesting all of the morning's economic data and events.  None of the reports were too exciting and one might conclude that traders were slightly more interested in buying bonds regardless of the data.  Yields flat-lined in stronger territory ahead of the Fed.  The announcement […]
• Mortgage Rates Move Lower After Fed Announcement May 1, 2024
  Wednesday brought a full schedule of events and data for the bond market to digest and bonds dictate day to day changes in mortgage rates.  The morning's data was perfectly palatable, resulting in modest strength heading into the afternoon's Fed announcement. Contrary to impression given by many news headlines on Fed day, there is rarely […]
• Old vs New Fed Statement With Changes Highlighted May 1, 2024
  Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding continued to expand at a solid pace. Job gains have remained strong, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated. In recent months, there has been a lack of further progress toward the Committee’s 2 percent inflation […]
• TPO, Market Analysis, VOE, Real Estate Search Tools; GSE and USDA News May 1, 2024
  “I named my dog ‘5 Miles’ so I can tell people I walk 5 Miles every day.” This morning, I head to Yosemite National Park for some camping, hiking, and biking. National parks receive 325 million visits a year, about 4 million of which are Yosemite’s compared to top U.S. sites like the Blue Ridge […]
• ARM Loan Share Rises as Borrowers Seek Affordability May 1, 2024
  Rising interest rates continue to constrain mortgage borrowing. The Mortgage Bankers Association says its Market Composite Index, a measure of loan application volume, decreased 2.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 1.4 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 3.0 percent […]
• ADP and Treasury Refunding Announcement Do No Harm May 1, 2024
  Bonds were roughly unchanged overnight, but began to improve modestly after the ADP data.  Considering the numbers were higher than expected, that may be more of a relief bid, or even "new month" trading (8:15am is the time of the release and 8:20am is CME open that frequently sees increased volume).All that having been said, […]
• More Ammo For Unfriendly Fed, But Data is at Least as Important April 30, 2024
  More Ammo For a Hawkish Fed, But Data is at Least as Important Bonds began the day flat but lost ground quickly after ECI came in higher than expected.  This is the latest in a string of unfriendly data for the bond market.  It proves additional ammo for the Fed to table the notion of […]
• Mortgage Rates Back Up And Over 7.5% April 30, 2024
  A mortgage rate is highly subjective and can vary for a variety of reasons.  A news story that provides an outright level like 7.5% requires context and qualification.  Some online advertisements (especially among builders) could still be showing rates in the high 6's.  Some borrowers will be seeing rates of 7.625 or higher.  Loans with […]