Interest Rates

It has turned out to be a surprisingly calm week for mortgage rates and, as of today, largely a victorious one, even if the victories have been modest.  Today’s installment involves a 0.02% drop in the average top tier 30yr fixed rate. This brings the index to the lowest level of the week and a […]

There was a bit of behind-the-scenes volatility in the bond market today.  Normally, bond volatility translates to interest rate volatility. In some cases, the timing of the volatility is such that  has a minimal impact on mortgage lenders. Today was one of those days. Yesterday evening, news broke regarding a court ruling that would block

After moving moderately lower to start the new week yesterday, mortgage rates backtracked ever-so-slightly today.  Top tier conventional 30yr fixed rates remain just under 7% for the average lender.  They spent 3 days above that mark last week. Rates can move for a variety of reasons with some of the most common being surprising results

The 30yr fixed mortgage rate index spent 3 consecutive days over 7% last week–the first time that’s happened since February.  Rates have generally been in a more volatile, more elevated range for the past 7 weeks compared to the narrow range seen in March. To put that in perspective, the difference between these two ranges

The bond market is scheduled to close 3 hour earlier than normal today–a common practice surrounding federal holiday weekends. This means 3 fewer hours where trading volatility can have an impact on mortgage rate movement.  Said more simply: the day is basically over when it comes to potential intraday rate changes. There is almost always

Mortgage rates hit their highest level in just over 3 months yesterday with financial markets generally protesting the absence of more serious spending cuts in the spending bill.  Rates care about fiscal spending because higher spending requires higher Treasury issuance which, in turn, pushes rates higher, all else equal. Although the House passed the bill

Two days ago, mortgage rates began the day at 7.04% before mid-day improvements brought the average back down to 6.99%.  Today started out in a similar vein with the average lender at 7.05%, but the mid-day movement only made things worse. In terms of catalyst events, the bond market (and stock market, for that matter)

Mortgage rates ultimately managed to hold steady on Tuesday despite some underlying market volatility. Rates change day to day (and sometimes intraday) based on movement in the bond market, and there’s been plenty of that. Yesterday’s market movement was good for rates after starting out near the worst levels since February. This allowed most lenders

Mortgage rates jumped sharply over the weekend as financial markets reacted to Moody’s credit rating downgrade of the U.S.  News of the downgrade broke with only minutes left in Friday’s market/business day, so most of the response played out when global markets opened again late last night. The initial reaction involved stock prices moving lower

The average top tier 30yr fixed rate is set to end the week just a few hundredths of a percent higher than last Friday at 6.92%.  That’s a victory–albeit a small one–after hitting 6.99% on Wednesday. As always, these rates refer to an index representing broad industry averages for best-case scenarios. Individual lenders and scenarios