It was a fairly decent day for mortgage rates with the average lender returning to the lowest levels in just over 2 months. The improvement followed early morning comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding the probable mix of future Treasury debt. What's that got to do with mortgage rates?  So much...  Mortgage rates are based on mortgage-specific bonds that are in the same extended family as US Treasuries.  If Treasuries are like oranges, mortgages are like orange juice--i.e. they're sort of a substitute for some people, but either way, heavily dependent on the price and availability of the former. All that to say that anything that impacts Treasuries in an obvious way also tends to impact mortgage rates.   Today's impacts were minimal, but mortgage rates weren't too far from those 2 month lows to begin with. Bigger victories would require a decisive shift toward lower inflation in key economic reports, or toward a markedly weaker economic data in general.
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February 20, 2025
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Mortgage Rate Watch
It was a fairly decent day for mortgage rates with the average lender returning to the lowest levels in just over 2 months. The improvement followed early morning comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding the probable mix of future Tre... (read more)
MBS Commentary
There's an interesting little case study in this morning's market movement. Bonds had been sideway to very slightly weaker overnight, but began to rally at 7am ET.  The most notable market headline available at the time was news of Walmart's dis... (read more)
Rob Chrisman
“Inflation is really getting out of hand... But that's just my 5 cents.” Inflation impacts the prices of fixed-income securities, like the kind backed by mortgages. Inflation takes a while to move, but this week President Donald Trump this week admit... (read more)
Mortgage Rates
MBS / Treasuries