The lender has delayed and denied requests to make its CEO available to testify under oath since December, suggesting his testimony was unnecessary.

Contract closings rose 3.2% to an annualized rate of 4.17 million last month, according to data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors.

The number identifying it as such is significant, but not universal, as servicers also face product-specific challenges and determine whether and how to use AI.

Mortgage lock volume fell 5.4% in May as rates climbed, but declining pull-throughs suggest some borrowers are reconsidering loan plans amid ongoing rate volatility, Optimal Blue found.

Zachary Carpenter, tapped to take over as Farmer Mac CEO in March 2027, will now take over the position on July 1, with Bradford Nordholm as CEO emeritus.

Bonds End at Strongest Levels

Unlike yesterday, which saw an uneventful open give way to intraday weakness, today’s momentum was mostly friendly. Bonds avoided panicking in the morning hours. Mid-day war-related headlines made for some quick 2-way trading in the noon hour, but yields never went any higher than the AM highs. After sorting out that volatility, steady gain brought yields to the lowest levels of the day in the final hour of trading. For context, this is right on the highest edge of the short-term range seen in the week and a half leading up to the jobs report. 

Econ Data / Events

NFIB Business Optimism Index (May)

95.3 vs 96.0 f’cast, 95.9 prev

ADP Employment Change Weekly

29K vs — f’cast, 35.75K prev

Trade Gap (Apr)

-55.90B vs $-56.1B f’cast, $-60.3B prev

Market Movement Recap

08:23 AM A hair stronger overnight. MBS up 1 tick (.03) and 10yr down 2bps at 4.543

01:38 PM MBS up 2 ticks and 10yr down 3.6bps at 4.528

04:15 PM MBS up 5 ticks (.16) and 10yr down 4.4bps at 4.52

Approximately 54% of homeowners looked to a second lien product to access their home’s stored value in the first quarter due to the “lock-in effect.”

Better and Coinbase plan to make the product available to qualified borrowers nationwide by this summer. Interested customers can currently apply to a waitlist.

Home sales rose 3.8% in May to 308,446, driven by a 2.8% jump in existing-home sales, which also reached their highest level since October 2022.

A notable cyber threat actor alleged it was behind a ransomware attack that impacted nearly 138,000 individuals, a claim refuted by the lender.