MBS RECAP: Huge Jobs Report, Logical Weakness, and a Nice Bounce, But…

Posted To: MBS Commentary Huge Jobs Report, Logical Weakness, and a Nice Bounce, But… Bonds did quite well today considering Powell's endorsement of higher rates (yesterday) combined with this morning's significantly stronger jobs report. Most of the push back was seen in MBS, however, and even then, closing levels are only really worthy of enthusiasm […]

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Mortgage Rates Surge After Powell Comments

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch Mortgage rates jumped quickly today after Q&A session with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. What did he say to cause such drama? Actually, it’s more about what he didn’t say. For some reason, market participants were expecting (or at least hoping) that Powell would say something to address the recent […]

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Pending Home Sales Retreat 2.8% in January, but Climb From Last Year

Pending Home Sales Retreat 2.8% in January Pending home sales took a step backward in January as inventory constraints continue to hold back prospective buyers. Media Contact:  Quintin Simmons 202-383-1178

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NAR Applauds House Vote to Secure Housing Rights for LGBTQ Americans

The legislation would ensure sexual orientation and gender identity are included as prohibited bases for discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. www.nar.realtor – Fair Housing

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Forbearances Tick Up; Relief Extended; Brutal Week For Rates But There’s Hope (Hopefully)

Rising rates have been on the menu for months, but the drama kicked into a higher gear this week. Maybe you heard about this? We’ve certainly been discussing it in recent newsletters ( especially last week’s ). The rising rate narrative hit the mainstream this week as it was widely credited for doing damage to […]

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Brutal Week For Rates But There’s Hope (Hopefully)

Rising rates have been on the menu for months, but the drama kicked into a higher gear this week. Maybe you heard about this? We’ve certainly been discussing it in recent newsletters ( especially last week’s ). The rising rate narrative hit the mainstream this week as it was widely credited for doing damage to […]

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Instant Reaction: Second 2020 Q4 GDP Growth Estimates Show Residential Investment Leading the Economic Recovery

Today’s second GDP estimate for the 2020 Q4 shows the economy grew slightly higher at 4.1% than previously estimated (4% advance estimate). www.nar.realtor – Research

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December Home Price Gains Highest Since 2014; Glimmer of Hope in Bonds, But it Might be a Trap

Both the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller and The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) report that the country ended the year with more than a 10 percent annual increase in home prices. The Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, which covers all nine U.S. census divisions, showed a year-over-year gain of 10.4 percent in December while FHFA […]

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February Easily The Worst Month For Rates in Long Time

Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch There are still 4 business days left in the month of February and thus still 4 days for the bond market to undergo an epic recovery that helps mortgage rates come back down. But traders and market-watchers alike have pined for–if not outright expected–such a recovery several times in the […]

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Existing Sales Rise, But Inventory is a Drag; Rates Surging, How Bad Could it Get?

There’s no precedent for the winning streak enjoyed by mortgage rates in the 2nd half of 2020. We’ve never seen so many new record lows in the same year, and we never spent as much time at those lows (not even close). All of the above makes it easy to get lulled into a false […]

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