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| Modest Gains Make For an Uneventful Week | ||
| 1/24/2025 3:27 PM | ||
| Modest Gains Make For an Uneventful Week If bonds had continued to sell off today, it would have made the week slightly more interesting, but even then, we would still be well under the high yields seen last week. As it stands, the combination of this morning"s economic data and an undetermined source...Read More | ||
| Mortgage Rates Back to Their Boring Ways | ||
| 1/24/2025 2:46 PM | ||
| While there were only 4 business days instead of the customary 5, it"s been an intensely boring week for mortgage rates. Tuesday started out right where Friday left off. From there, Thursday brought the only noticeable change with the average lender moving up to the highest levels in just over a week. Friday saw a return to the boring trend ...Read More | ||
| Existing Home Sales Inch Up to Highest Levels Since February | ||
| 1/24/2025 2:16 PM | ||
| It"s no mystery that 2024 hasn"t been a stellar year for home sales and many other housing metrics. Today"s release of December"s Existing Home Sales from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) confirmed that. Bad news first: with December in the books, 2024 goes down as the worst year for existing sales since 1995, just barely edg...Read More | ||
| Highest Purchase Applications in a Year? Technically, Yes | ||
| 1/24/2025 1:52 PM | ||
| The Mortgage Bankers Association"s (MBA) weekly mortgage application survey showed a modest decrease in refinance applications and an even more modest increase in purchase applications. At these levels of movement, it"s just as fair to say that applications generally held steady. That"s a good thing for purchases considering last week was already ...Read More | ||
| Yields Finding a Ceiling After AM Data | ||
| 1/24/2025 11:03 AM | ||
| Due to the incredibly light calendar of economic data this week, this morning"s combination of S&P PMI and Consumer Sentiment added up to the most consequential morning of market movers for bonds. There has indeed been a bit of a reaction, but it"s playing out well within the recent range. There was 2-way volatility following the PMI da...Read More | ||
| Non-QM Products; Kickback Scheme Revealed; Lenders Helping LA; Webinars and Training | ||
| 1/24/2025 10:47 AM | ||
| “With oil prices going down, I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately. And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us,” President Trump stated. Texas knows a thing or two about oil prices, inflation, mortgages, and climate change. As hundreds of residential lenders, and their vendor partners, gear ...Read More | ||
| Bonds Feeling Defensive Despite Trump"s Demands For Lower Rates | ||
| 1/23/2025 3:42 PM | ||
| Bonds Feeling Defensive Despite Trump"s Demands For Lower Rates Bonds lost ground this morning despite slightly higher Jobless Claims. There are no obvious cases for causality apart from markets generally bracing for the impact of impending fiscal changes. Some feel that tariffs will increase inflatio...Read More | ||
| Mortgage Rates Move Moderately Higher | ||
| 1/23/2025 2:39 PM | ||
| After several consecutive days without any noticeable changes, mortgage rates finally made a move today. Unfortunately, that move was higher. Thankfully, it was neither extreme nor sufficient to challenge last week"s highs. Nonetheless, it keeps the average lender uncomfortably close to the highest levels in 8 months with the most preva...Read More | ||
| Hedging, QC, Payment Processing, HELOC Tools; STRATMOR, CX, and Profits; Primer on Tangible Net Worth | ||
| 1/23/2025 10:54 AM | ||
| “Be decisive. Right or wrong, make a decision. The road is paved with flat squirrels who couldn’t make a decision.” Potential borrowers wonder why mortgage rates haven’t “decided” to go down. Money is apolitical, and U.S. News reports, “Long before President Donald Trump regained control of the White House, he said on the campaign trail that he wou...Read More | ||
| No Help From Slightly Higher Jobless Claims | ||
| 1/23/2025 9:45 AM | ||
| Yesterday"s recap began by calling attention to the "extreme dearth of big ticket economic data" this week. Thursday AM brought the weekly jobless claims data--the first report of the week that had any sort of chance to cause some movement. A case could be made that it resulted in a very small, very temporary improvement in bonds. In context,...Read More | ||