Layoffs stretch across the organization, including members of Summit’s c-suite and its general counsel, the company said in a notice to California officials.

Full documentation was only applied to 2.6% of the underlying pool of mortgages. Debt-to-income, however, was 23.3% when it was applied.

Americans who qualify for a mortgage with Better will be able to use Bitcoin or USDC as collateral to fund their down payment through a private loan.

The 30-year fixed mortgage has increased by 40 basis points since February, while the 15-year is 14 basis points lower than a year ago, Freddie Mac reported.

New questions about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s guarantee by experts who saw conservatorship start points to tensions in a stalled secondary offering.

That Escalated Quickly

It would be easy to check in on the bond market at some point on Thursday afternoon and conclude there’d been precipitous escalation in the Iran war or some other big new development putting pressure on bonds (10yr yields up almost 10bps to 4.42+ and MBS down more than 5/8ths). But today’s selling was remarkably linear and steady. It began in the overnight session and ramped up at 10:30am ET after a brief correction this morning. If you need a single scapegoat, it’s simply “renewed escalation” after yesterday’s session raised some hopes for the opposite. Looking a bit deeper, we also suspect the entire market is positioning defensively for a weekend with serious volatility potential. 

Econ Data / Events

Continued Claims (Mar)/14

1,819K vs 1850K f’cast, 1857K prev

Jobless Claims (Mar)/21

210K vs 210K f’cast, 205K prev

Market Movement Recap

08:31 AM Weaker overnight and no reaction to data. MBS down a quarter point and 10yr up 4.4bps at 4.375

11:24 AM Down 10 ticks (.31) on the day and 5 ticks (.16) from AM highs.  10yr up 4.5bps at 4.376

12:34 PM Weakest levels. MBS down more than 3/8ths and 10yr up 7bps at 4.399

02:32 PM More selling. MBS down 5/8ths and 10yr up 8.6bps at 4.417

Bonds yields stayed lower than oil prices suggested yesterday afternoon. The same is true this morning, but oil prices have risen enough to lead bonds into weaker territory. Said differently, Iran war de-escalation sentiment is increasingly drying up, thus causing higher oil prices, higher bond yields, and lower stock prices. Additionally, the closer we get to the weekend without good news on negotiations, the more escalation risk will be priced-in by the market due to the Saturday deadline on Trump’s ultimatum to reopen shipping channels lest they be taken by force.

What’s new out there? Well, United Airlines is talking about having couches in the air. There’s always something new in compliance, and there are firms that specialize in it including Feewise, Truework, Asurity, RiskExec, TENA, ACES Quality Management, Firstline Compliance, and LicensingStore.com listed in the Marketplace. There’s always something new impacting mortgage rates. “Rob, I know that short term rates have gone up more than long term rates. Doesn’t an inverted yield curve, where short term rates are higher than long term rates, portend a recession?” Not always, especially when it is temporary. All kinds of people predicted a recession a few years ago that never materialized, reminding us that no one can predict the future. That said, financial companies like JPMorgan Chase predict no Fed cuts in 2026 and mortgage rates, which have gone back up to last summer’s levels, aren’t helping biz. Investors don’t think much of the prospects for builders, and their stocks have behaved accordingly. PulteGroup, for example, is at a one-year low, down 20 percent from a few months ago. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Quorum Federal Credit Union offering a broker outlet. Quorum empowers brokers to close more deals with flexible, high-LTV mortgage and HELOC solutions featuring up to 4 percent comp, low FICO options, and versatile programs for nearly every borrower scenario. Each day’s podcast features an interview with a mortgage luminary after 6AM PT, today’s with Peter Idziak with Polunsky Beitel Green on President Trump’s executive order’s impact on mortgage regulations.)

After a somewhat hopeful day on Wednesday, mortgage rates are back to their same old tricks on Thursday. The tricks in question involve following the broader market reaction to the Iran war which has caused significant and almost exclusive upward movement in interest rates for the entire month of March. Average 30yr fixed rates have been at or near the highest levels in 7-8 months over the past 4 days. Today easily took them to slightly higher levels as global financial markets lost ground. The move lines up symmetrically with lower stock prices and higher oil prices. Until there’s meaningful and lasting de-escalation of the Iran war, the safest bet is for more volatility for interest rates. [thirtyyearmortgagerates]

The Federal Home Loan Bank system, a Depression-era program designed to shore up mortgage lending that has morphed into a go-to — and controversial — source of cheap financing for banks and other financial institutions.