Wholesale and Correspondent Product and Corporate News Homebridge Financial Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest privately held non-bank mortgage lenders, has officially signed an agreement to merge with an affiliate of Saluda Grade, a premier independent alternative investment firm (founded in 2019 with approximately $4.4 billion in assets under management). This powerful partnership marks a major leap forward, positioning the combined platform for explosive growth, particularly across the rapidly expanding Non-QM and HELOC space. The executive and management team at Homebridge are continuing with the company. Homebridge and REMN Wholesale will keep their full teams intact, ensuring continuity while unlocking next-level scale, innovation, and market leadership. Introducing HELIX, The Future of Digital Mortgage Lending! As part of this transformation, Homebridge and REMN Wholesale will be launching HELIX, a cutting-edge Digital mortgage lending platform that is miles ahead of anything currently in the market. Built directly from client feedback and engineered with a relentless focus on speed, automation, and elite customer experience, HELIX isn’t just an upgrade—it’s a complete reinvention of the digital mortgage process. This powerful new platform integrates home equity and first lien lending into one seamless ecosystem, dramatically improving both the borrower and MLO experience while driving unprecedented efficiency and scalability.

Technically and officially, today’s average top tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate is the highest since last Monday. The catch is that there hasn’t been much movement since then with the overall range being limited to 0.04%.  Today’s jump was the largest upward movement during that time. There was some upward pressure on rates from stronger employment data in the morning, but the market was even more focused on the uncertain status of US/Iran peace talks.  As the domestic business day winds down, it doesn’t look like there will be concrete news on a ceasefire extension. As such, volatility potential remains elevated heading into Wednesday.

Ceasefire Uncertainty Adds to Losses

Bonds were just a bit weaker this morning after the weekly ADP data. Just before 11am ET, several newswires called ceasefire negotiations into question. Chief among these was a report that Iran had not confirmed its intent to participate. Despite the seemingly significant consequences, bonds only rose about 2bps in terms of 10yr yields. By the 3pm CME close, yields were up less than 4bps on the day and still well inside the prevailing consolidation range. There’s been a bit more weakness since then owing to new headlines indicating that neither Iran nor JD Vance are attending Wednesday’s planned talks in Pakistan. 

Econ Data / Events

ADP Employment Change Weekly

54.75K vs — f’cast, 39K prev

Retail Sales (Mar)

1.7% vs 1.4% f’cast, 0.6% prev

Retail Sales Control Group MoM (Mar)

0.7% vs 0.2% f’cast, 0.5% prev

Pending Home Sales (Mar)

1.5% vs 0.1% f’cast, 1.8% prev

Market Movement Recap

08:32 AM Modestly weaker after weekly ADP data. No reaction to Retail Sales. MBS down 2 ticks (.06) and 10yr up 1.9bps at 4.268

09:44 AM 10yr up 2.4bps at 4.275.  MBS down 5 ticks (.16).

10:51 AM MBS down a quarter point and 10yr up 4.6bps at 4.296

02:44 PM Sideways since previous update. MBS still down a quarter point and 10yr up 4.4bps at 4.295

Heading into the day, the 8:30am Retail Sales data was the obvious pick among the available economic reports to be a potential market mover. Reality had other ideas… weird ones. After months and months without any major reaction, this morning’s weekly ADP employment finally made its presence felt, even if only by the smallest of margins. Retail Sales definitely garnered a higher volume reaction, but it was balanced between buyers and sellers whereas ADP actually caused a small directional move. Fortunately, it’s so small that we’ve already talked about it too much. Bonds are essentially flat and the rest of the day now becomes about the familiar task of sitting and waiting for any interesting war-related developments. 

About two-thirds of respondents to a NewDay survey said their education about the benefit was lacking either during their time in the service or afterwards.

Banks are pushing back on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s draft of a five-year strategic plan, which includes a notable pullback from supervising nonbanks.

Certain affiliates of Blue Owl will acquire all outstanding shares of common stock of the healthcare-focused real estate investment trust for $30.38 per share.

Over half of all second-home inventory in the U.S. is concentrated in just eight states, with Florida leading the pack, according to analysis by NAHB.

Mortgage lenders’ crisis communications frameworks are too slow for today’s markets, leaving dangerous narrative gaps, according to the founder of ClearLine.

War in the Middle East made oil prices go up, higher oil prices hurt world economies and stock markets because prices and inflation go up, and higher inflation leads to higher interest rates. At least, that’s the way it usually works, as does the opposite. Last week stock markets surged as pivotal geopolitical development reshaped investor sentiment: The announced reopening of the Strait of Hormuz marked a major step toward de-escalation in the Middle East, with ongoing negotiations fueling optimism that a broader resolution may be closer than previously expected. Oil prices plunged roughly 14 percent intraday, briefly nearing $80 per barrel, down sharply from nearly $120 just ten days ago at peak tensions. But that was then, and this is now. And who knows what will happen next? (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s ‘casts are sponsored by Experian. From lead generation to closing and beyond, Experian empowers mortgage professionals with advanced data, credit insights, and decisioning tools to grow pipelines, manage risk, and stay compliant in a rapidly changing market. Hear an interview with Noise Media Group’s Joe Levi on how marketers are turning SEO budgets into generative engine optimization (GEO) to maintain visibility across AI-driven results that pull from diverse sources like structured data, news, and social content.) Wholesale and Correspondent Product and Corporate News NFTYDoor, an end-to-end digital HELOC software platform, today announced it is now operating as a fully independent company, enabling direct partnerships with wholesale brokers and private label correspondents, alongside a significant expansion of credit parameters and partner economics. Key enhancements include minimum FICO reduced from 640 to 600, maximum CLTV increased from 80 to 90 percent, maximum loan amount increased from $500,000 to $750,000, borrower rates reduced by 100+ bps, increased compensation for brokers and private label partners, and a fully embedded, no-cost warehouse line for private label partners. Access to NFTYDoor’s enhanced end-to-end HELOC origination solution is available exclusively to partners contracting directly with NFTYDoor. Contact hello@nftydoor.com.