Thu, May 1 2014, 12:40 PM
Overall construction spending increased slightly in March
the Census Bureau said today. Combined
public and private construction was at a seasona...
Thu, May 1 2014, 12:02 PM
10yr yields had been careful to avoid dipping below yesterday's latest levels until after all of this morning's data was out of the way. Once it was,...
Thu, May 1 2014, 11:24 AM
The
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is again proposing a few minor
modifications to its new mortgage rules, suggesting changes designed ...
Thu, May 1 2014, 10:35 AM
Happy
May Day! After good a good March and a decent April, mortgage banks are
left wondering what May will look like. Today I travel from Chicago ...
Thu, May 1 2014, 7:38 AM
There's no way to be excited about bond markets right now! That is, unless you want to be excited about the fact that things are making great sense...
Thu, May 1 2014, 4:03 PM
Bond markets had a great day today, but the greatness isn't entirely logical ( ironic headline choice this AM , no? ). While there was some economic...
Thu, May 1 2014, 3:12 PM
Mortgage rates fell at the fastest pace in over a month today
bringing them to their lowest levels since early February. The
motivation for ...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 12:42 PM
In a survey they might as well have
subtitled "The Grass is Always Greener," Gallup found that about a
third of Americans would, if given the opport...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 11:04 AM
The blue line is stocks; yellow is 10yr yields. When we see a chart like this on the last 2.5 days of the month-- ESPECIALLY when the recent norm has...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 10:37 AM
Yes, I remember it well; it was 2005 and saying "Jumbo" or "Alt-A" without adding an IO at the end was unthinkable .
Borrowers would ask, "What hap...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 10:16 AM
Wednesday's FOMC Announcement was almost completely unchanged from the
previous version. Since the Fed is already in the habit of tweaking
only c...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 8:54 AM
The week ended April 25 was one of the
slowest for mortgage application activity the industry has seen in years. The Mortgage Bankers Association ...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 7:18 AM
As a quarterly report with monthly updates, GDP releases are slightly different from month to month. The order is: advance, preliminary, and final. ...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 3:54 PM
Heading into the last hour of trading on this all-star day, bond markets have moved at a fairly average pace, albeit in rate-friendly directions. The...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 3:27 PM
Mortgage rates fell at a solid pace
today following a reading on 1st Quarter GDP that was much weaker than
expected. Downbeat economic data ...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 3:10 PM
This will be the first year that financial institutions will be required to
submit to stress tests under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and
C...
Wed, Apr 30 2014, 1:59 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met
in March indicates that growth in economic activity has picked up
recently, after...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 12:16 PM
The overnight session was nominally weaker for Treasuries, but there was limited activity overall as Japan (the key participant in US Treasuries durin...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 10:50 AM
Completed foreclosures increased by nearly 6 percent in
March, moving from 45,000 in February to 48,000. CoreLogic said this morning that there we...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 9:59 AM
Let's face it: lenders who ignore compliance are doomed in the
long run. Here's a recent quick note provided by the Mortgage Bankers
Association...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 7:48 AM
To be perfectly fair to financial markets, "things could get serious" at any moment really, it's just that the events that are more predisposed to bri...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 3:34 PM
It was a generally quiet day for bond markets, though that wasn't destined to be the case at the open. Treasuries had weakened slightly overnight and...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 3:02 PM
The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Index rose
slightly in February on a seasonally-adjusted basis, beating analysts' expectations by a hair whi...
Tue, Apr 29 2014, 2:23 PM
Mortgage rates were slightly higher today
as a result of bond market weakness late yesterday and again this
morning. Some of that weakness h...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 12:20 PM
Home prices nationwide have now
recovered to within 13.5 percent of the peak they reached in June 2006. The national Home Price Index (HPI) provid...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 11:47 AM
MBS are coping with the double-edged sword that is stronger housing data this morning. On the one hand, the decisive reversal of an 8-month slide in ...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 10:37 AM
Contracts for home purchases ended a dismal
nine-month downturn in March marked by the first improvement in the Pending
Home Sales Index (PSHSI) p...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 10:04 AM
Another
trend that is winding down in the banking industry is the long period
of Fed Funds at or near 0%. Whether this happens in 2015 or 2016, ke...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 7:39 AM
If calendar events like economic reports and monetary policy announcements end up being the impetus for bond markets to break out of their 3-Month sid...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 3:23 PM
Bond markets were just slightly weaker overnight, with no major volatility or trading themes emerging. MBS walked in the door a bit weaker as a resul...
Mon, Apr 28 2014, 2:45 PM
Mortgage rates
held almost perfectly steady today, with a handful of lenders offering
slightly lower costs while others were slightly higher. ...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 12:59 PM
While the Gallup survey released on
Thursday shows that Americans are regaining their faith in home ownership, at
least as a worthwhile investme...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 10:41 AM
David Crowe, Chief Economist of the National
Association of Home Builders (NAHB) told members attending the Association's
2014 Spring Construction...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 10:23 AM
Bank of America might have to pony up yet another $13 billion to settle
more residential mortgage-backed security claims? No wonder the lending...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 8:00 AM
Bond markets are "done" with this week. 10yr yields haven't spent more than one day without being on both sides of the fence at 2.70 this week, which...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 3:37 PM
MBS saw their first trades of the day come in just a hair over yesterday's latest levels, which were also the best of the day. They never looked back...
Fri, Apr 25 2014, 2:44 PM
Mortgage rates
moved lower today, reaching their best levels of the week. Slumping
stocks and geopolitical concerns contributed to positivity ...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 12:28 PM
A new Gallup survey seems to indicate that Americans
are falling in love with real estate again .
The poll, conducted among over a thousand respon...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 12:01 PM
Bond markets have had a volatile morning so far. Treasuries were slightly weaker overnight, resulting in lower opening levels in MBS. Both were weak...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 10:54 AM
Sales of residential properties were
marginally higher in March than in February and the median price of both
distressed and non-distressed proper...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 10:20 AM
The mortgage
closing table is the site of considerable pain and confusion for homebuyers, Richard
Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Prot...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 10:18 AM
It
is "bring your kid to work" day. Some kids are fascinated with how much
others make. They grow up to be underwriters . Others are fascinated
...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 8:00 AM
Bond markets continue to be relentlessly sideways. Just when Treasury yields were staging for their best chance at breaking out of a 3-month range-bi...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 3:54 PM
For the second straight day, MBS are coasting toward the close having held a narrow 4/32nds range for most of the day, having seen little, if any thre...
Thu, Apr 24 2014, 3:06 PM
Mortgage rates
held were mostly sideways today. In cases where rate sheets differed
from yesterday, the tendency was toward just slightly high...
Wed, Apr 23 2014, 12:15 PM
New homes sales in March were down 14.5
percent from sales in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 384,000.
The New Residential Sale...
Wed, Apr 23 2014, 12:07 PM
Even before this morning's economic data, bond markets were already in slightly stronger territory. The data itself only helped, though it's a doubl...
Wed, Apr 23 2014, 10:28 AM
The number of banks available to consumers is decreasing - but it
is not because of failures. In fact, there has not been a bank failure
in the ...
Wed, Apr 23 2014, 9:24 AM
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said
the average size of a purchase mortgage loan reported by respondents to its most
recent Weekly Mortgag...
Wed, Apr 23 2014, 7:00 AM
The first two days back from the extended weekend have been surprisingly uneventful, and that's saying something considering they were already likely ...
