Wed, Apr 7 2010, 8:30 AM
Stock markets are soft and bonds are better bid ahead of afternoon speeches by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the lone FOMC dissenter Tom H...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 6:37 PM
As far as locking and floating, I'd probably take certain deals off the table if I promised some higher power that I would do so if they could just he...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 5:40 PM
Mortgage rates are slowly rallying away from the highs of 2010 after a two successful Treasury auctions. I continue to favor floating my loans, but wi...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 3:25 PM
"Today the financial crisis looks to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is beginning to grow again. But we are far from...
Wed, Apr 7 2010, 1:46 PM
"Rate Sheet Influential" Treasuries and MBS are rallying after a very strong 10 year Treasury note auction. Reprices for the better are likely...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 12:15 PM
Stage 1 of the Fed's exit looks to be behind us with only minimal damage done. Rising mortgage rates have been more a function of higher benchmark yie...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:32 AM
Negative equity, high back-end ratios, and the existence of second liens are just a few of the problems the Solicitor General reports may impede the s...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:25 AM
More flood insurance updates worth noting; seller financing increasing; problems with modifying 2nds
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 10:01 AM
Overseas rates traders came back to work today to find much cheaper bond prices and higher "risk free" yields thus, "rate sheet influential Treasuries...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 8:22 AM
The dollar is stronger but equity futures and commodity prices are each trading lower. The economic docket is empty this morning but in the afternoon ...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 5:19 PM
Treasury yields did move lower today and MBS prices rose which has allowed lenders to offer better pricing. With that said, I continue to favor floati...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 3:08 PM
Overall, continued cautiousness is obvious. Much is still uncertain from their point of view, but there is plenty of weakness to warrant an exceptiona...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 2:23 PM
Consumers are still committed to owning a home, but are showing increased cautiousness, regardless of whether they rent, own their homes outright or h...
Tue, Apr 6 2010, 1:23 PM
It's going to FEEL uncomfortable to float "on the edge" deals that you would prefer to float until tomorrow but IF we see any reprices, they won't be ...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 12:27 PM
Loan Approvals Before Delegated Underwriting; Repurchase Liability and the Value of a Mortgage Company; Flagstar Stock Dilution; Citi and TARP
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 11:53 AM
Morning data was great for stock bulls but bad for bonds. After the date, the S&P hit new 2010 highs at 1,187, the 10 year Treasury note yield continu...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 10:27 AM
UFMIP Reminder; HUD Shuts Down Two Lenders; REO Appraisal Guidance; Primary Dealers; Texas Laws Pay Off
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 8:34 AM
The Dow closed last Thursday at an 18-month high, and with equity investors now able to react to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, the market should o...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 4:33 PM
The week ahead is fairly light on economic data with the highest impacting events coming starting on Tuesday with the release of the minutes of the mo...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 2:51 PM
The bad news is that bonds are still at or near their weakest levels of the day, but the good news is that some semblance of support looks to be in ef...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 1:42 PM
The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 8.2 percent to 97.6 from a downwardly revised 90...
Mon, Apr 5 2010, 1:05 PM
The reverse mortgage industry started out as a fulfiller of dreams to the greatest generation. For its first 17 years of existence, regulators outside...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 11:23 AM
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 11:13 AM
The Inspector General in charge of monitoring the TARP program has issued the first in a series of audits of the HAMP program. The report finds that ...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 10:36 AM
FDIC Finds Buyer for $491 Million in RMBS; Freddie Selling Foreclosed Homes; Flood Insurance Directives; Condo News
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 9:22 AM
There's ammo for both bulls and bears in this data. Revisions to previous data add 40,000 more jobs than previously reported. Census workers spend mo...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 8:19 AM
After months of waiting for the Employment Report to indicate labor growth in the economy, it looks like it will finally happen … on a day when equity...
Fri, Apr 2 2010, 5:42 PM
Mortgage rates had a terrible week! (like pulling a band-aid). The par 30 year fixed mortgage rate rose anywhere from .125 to .375% over the course of...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 12:36 PM
The Treasury Department has announced the terms of next week's auction cycle. In total, $82 billion in notes and bonds will be sold. This will raise a...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 11:11 AM
Total construction spending fell for a fourth straight month in February to the slowest pace since November 2002. While I do not doubt that constructi...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:54 AM
Freddie Mac's February Volume Summary, released on Thursday, shows that the value of both the corporations total portfolio and its investments portfol...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:27 AM
ARM rates can actually change; Wells changes name; Puerto Rico SAFE Act update; Option ARM's resurface
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 10:05 AM
While the benchmark TSY market is apathetically "so so" today, the scene is not pretty in "rate sheet influential" mortgage-land. The FN 4.5 is -0-10...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 8:17 AM
On the first day of Q2 2010, equity futures in the US are looking for a sharply higher open after investor sentiment was boosted by positive data in A...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 6:19 PM
With the charts relatively boring, here's a quasi-op-ed, quasi-"perspective amidst the chaos" from us to you. If you'd rather skip that, there are s...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 4:49 PM
The goal of the Federal Reserve's agency MBS program was to provide support to mortgage and housing markets and to foster improved conditions in finan...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 4:30 PM
Reports from fellow mortgage professionals indicate lender rate sheets to be considerably worse than yesterday. The par 30 year conventional rate mor...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 3:10 PM
Fannie 4.5's at 99-29. 10yr Tsy yield at 3.865. Couple bouts of volatility earlier have given way to a narrow range for MBS. 4.5's are well off the lo...
Thu, Apr 1 2010, 1:42 PM
If a mortgage banker has been originating and selling loans to investors, it should it should prepare for The Law of Unintended Consequences. One doe...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 11:29 AM
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced over $49 million in grants to state level public housing agencies to use in an ongoing p...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 11:16 AM
The Fannie 4.5 MBS coupon has lost all positive progress that was picked up following a much weaker than forecast ADP print at 815am. The FN 4.5 is cu...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 10:40 AM
Fannie Mae's mortgage investment portfolio shrank for the second straight month in February. This will not last much longer though. On Februrary 10, ...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 10:18 AM
Flood Insurance Guidance from Lenders; Wells Says No Signatures on GFE; Housing Prices Need Buyer Volume to Confirm Rise
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 9:39 AM
Nonfarm private employment decreased 23,000 from February to March on a seasonally adjusted basis. Goods producing businesses are still the weakest ...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 7:53 AM
Markets are flat to roughly lower as cautious investors await the results of the ADP private employment report and a key index of the services and man...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 7:27 AM
The reality of a purchase driven housing market is setting in as the refinance index failed to make much progress in Q1 2010 even as mortgage rates he...
Wed, Mar 31 2010, 4:43 PM
I discussed a few technical levels last night. Specifically, that 100-16, 100-10, and 100-07 were good levels to keep an eye on. That call turned ou...
