Mortgage Rates Match Multi-Year Low For 2nd Straight Day

The average top-tier mortgage rates made it back to 5.99% yesterday for the first time since January 9th and only the second time in more than 3 years. With rates holding perfectly steady today, this is the 3rd day that matches that multi-year low. In one important way, the past 2 days represent a b

Non-QM Pricing, Documentation, eSignature, AI Tools; Thoughts on New Starting Points for Borrowers

At the Optimal Blue Summit going on now, sessions range from AI to loan officer tools to market strategy, product unveilings built to transform pricing, trading, and profitability. Will AI help? A study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that among 6,000 CEOs, chi

Slower Start, More Sideways. Stock Lever in Play

Volume and volatility is lower this morning compared to yesterday, but the same theme of risk aversion looks to be in play, probably.  Why "probably?" Because the theme in question (risk aversion, or what we sometimes refer to as the "stock lever") oftentimes makes it hard to distinguish betwee

General Risk Aversion Trade Helping Bonds

General Risk Aversion Trade Helping Bonds Bonds began the day in just barely stronger territory but continued to improve throughout. The first rally followed the 8:20am CME open--a common time of day to see a bit of extra momentum and volume. The next leg of the rally played out in the 10am hour whi