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Every month, we offer the same old warning/reminder ahead of the big jobs report–something to the effect of “no other economic report has as much power to cause volatility in rates, for better or worse.”  Days like today are the reason for that reminder. Thankfully, it was the “better” end of the spectrum. Rates tend

Mortgage rates went to bed last night knowing that the bond market would need to improve in the morning in order for prevailing levels to be maintained. In other words, bonds had begun losing ground yesterday, but not enough for mortgage lenders to go to the trouble of re-issuing rates (something they prefer to do

Wednesday brought another incremental increase in the level and importance of the calendar events with the power to create volatility for rates. Some of the events were economic reports out earlier in the morning. The other 2 events consisted of the Fed’s policy announcement and the subsequent press conference with Fed Chair Powell. The economic

After three straight days at exactly the same level, average 30yr fixed rates began to move lower again on Tuesday. It should immediately be clarified that the word “began” implies a certain likelihood of continuation whereas no such likelihoods can be guaranteed when it comes to the bond/rate market. In other words, rates did indeed

If any given week of movement in the mortgage rate world came with disclaimer, this one would be: “Warning. An absence of volatility on Monday has no bearing on odds for volatility in the rest of the week.” More simply put, you’re essentially guaranteed to see more rate movement over the next 4 days simply

Mortgage Rates End Week Unchanged. Next Week, Probably Not… It’s no great secret that the outgoing week didn’t offer much in terms of hotly anticipated events with the power to make or break momentum in the rate market.  But as it happened, there was ultimately no impact whatsoever by the time Friday afternoon rolled around. 

After falling for 5 straight days leading into Tuesday, mortgage rates have now moved slightly higher on each of the past two days. As was the case with the improvement, the bounce back has been exceedingly modest in its pace. In fact, most borrowers will be seeing the same rates today vs last week with

It’s been a pretty good run for mortgage rates since hitting their most recent highs last Tuesday. Each subsequent day saw a modest improvement. That winning streak finally ended today, but just barely. The average top tier 30yr fixed rate was only 0.01% higher compared to yesterday. For all practical purposes, that means that rates

Last week, we got a sneak preview of how the market would react to Fed Chair Powell ending his term early. In a nutshell, only the shortest-term rates would improve while most consumer rates would move higher–including mortgages. This isn’t conjecture, but rather the actual response in the bond market (bonds dictate interest rates).  Thankfully,