“6-7!” has swept the nation for youngsters of indeterminant age, and for no real reason. Other numbers have meaning, as do dates. For example, today is November 10th and on this day in 1975, the freighter S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior during a massive storm, killing all 29 of the crew. (Gordon Lightfoot memorialized the tragedy in a hit song the following year.) What’s in a number? Today, let’s look at “50” or “100.” Through some social media software, the president has brought up the 50- or 100-year mortgage as a way of improving affordability. Most people in this country would prefer to pay off their mortgage sooner than later. Does anyone admire the Japanese economy, or grandkids paying off their grandparent’s mortgage? “Through the use of simulation, the conclusion is reached that the 100-year mortgage has failed to increase the affordability of homes. Instead, affluent homeowners are more likely to employ long-term mortgages as an estate-planning tool to reduce inheritance taxes.” (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s is sponsored by TransUnion. Mortgage lenders choose TransUnion for their identity-focused, data-driven mortgage insights and solutions, enabling them to achieve more desirable lending outcomes in a volatile housing market. Hear an interview with TRUE’s Steve Butler on the challenges of income analysis in lending, particularly the delays caused by manual data entry and underwriting processes, and how technological advancements are solving this.)

If members of the House can make it back to D.C. in sufficient numbers, there’s a real possibility that the shutdown will end this week. Some marketplace chatter is attempting to connect overnight bond market weakness to those prospects, but an early recovery suggests some skepticism (because the recovery didn’t coincide with any new news on the shutdown). Still, a logical case could be made for bond weakness when the shutdown ends, assuming a prolonged shutdown increasingly harms the economy. Either way, the real reaction will be reserved for real confirmation. Despite assumptive headlines, this would likely take several days at best.  From there, it’s not as if econ data is ready to release (other than the September jobs report).

The bill would provide pay for furloughed government workers, resume withheld federal payments to states and localities and recall agency employees who were laid off during the shutdown.

The impacts of the federal government shutdown are hitting both originators and servicers, and as things drag out, the disruptions will increase.

President Trump and housing regulator Bill Pulte are considering introducing a 50-year fixed rate mortgage that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would purchase.

The FHFA director hinted at a partnership in the works and doubled down on criticism of homebuilders and the Fed chair in a housing conference interview.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ended a consent order earlier than expected against the credit bureau TransUnion, saying the company already paid a $5 million fine and $3 million to consumers.

The volume of home equity lines of credit expanded for the 14th consecutive quarter, driven largely by fintechs and other nonbanks that are accounting for more and more of the business.

A trade group for participants in the clean energy loan program argues the upcoming regulations will be too burdensome and costly for participants.

Wednesday’s mortgage rates were the highest in roughly a month and very close to the highest levels in 2 months.  This followed stronger economic data on that same morning. Rates moved back down yesterday after separate econ data told a different story. Now on Friday, it’s a mixed bag. The underlying bond market was slightly weaker to start the day, and that meant rates started out modestly higher. But the last economic data of the week showed lower-than-expected consumer sentiment. Bonds improved as a result, but not enough for the average lender to go to the trouble of adjusting their mortgage rate offerings. The implication is that Monday’s rates would be back in line with yesterday’s if the bond market were to hold steady over the weekend. Keep in mind, that’s never a guarantee. The point of sharing the info is simply to relay the fact that rates could endure a bit of bond market weakness over the weekend without being any higher than they are today.