A final hearing on the decision in the suit regarding convenience fees will take place early next year.

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Tim Scott, R-S.C., released one of his first major public bank policy pushes in months after formally suspending his presidential campaign.

While it can also be used to obtain mortgage and other product information, the app features teaming personal wellbeing content from Dr. Deepak Chopra.

MBS Outperform Ahead of CPI

Monday had very little to offer in terms of calendar events or meaningful headlines to inspire bond market momentum for better or worse.  The result is unsurprising if you ask Treasuries: 10yr yields are drifting very close to unchanged on the day after early selling and a late morning bounce.  If there’s a development that’s worth mentioning, it would be the MBS outperformance.  Case in point, 6.0 UMBS are ending the day in line with Friday’s 11am levels while 10yr yields are more than 4bps higher versus the same baseline.  As interesting as that may be, all bets are off after 8:30am tomorrow (CPI).

Market Movement Recap

09:44 AM MBS down almost a quarter point.  10yr up 4bps at 4.686.

12:31 PM Bouncing back into the noon hour.  MBS roughly unchanged.  10yr up only 0.2bps at 4.648.

03:29 PM MBS at best levels, up almost 3/4ths.  10yr down 1bp at 4.636.

Mortgage rates began the day at the highest levels in nearly 2 weeks.  The underlying bond market had been losing ground steadily since last Thursday and there was some follow-through to that negative momentum early today.  Weaker bonds = higher rates, all other things being equal. But bonds recovered from 10am through the end of the day and the specific bonds that underlie mortgage rates did even better than their Treasury benchmarks.  This allowed almost every lender to issue updated, improved pricing in the afternoon.  With that, lenders were fairly close to the rate offerings seen on Friday. All bets are off as far as tomorrow is concerned.  The Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be released at 8:30am ET and it has the power to send rates sharply higher or lower depending on the outcome.  CPI is the most important inflation report for the bond market and one of the only pieces of economic data that can rival the big jobs report when it comes to market movement potential.  The key word here is “potential.”  CPI can always thread the needle and garner a mixed response in the market, but if it’s significantly higher or lower than expected, rates will be on the move.

Last week ended up being a sideways dud in terms of the bond market’s willingness to do anything new after the previous week’s big rally.  That said, the mere act of holding inside a relatively narrow range helps to confirm the previous week’s rally was more than some weird byproduct of oversold momentum and corrective short-covering (even though those things helped make the rally bigger).  This week’s focus remains squarely on Tuesday’s CPI release as the week’s only super heavy hitter on the econ data front.  Retail sales data will play a strong supporting role the following day.  Monday’s off to a weaker start without any obvious justification.
There’s a fairly big drop expected at the headline CPI level (0.1 vs 0.4) previously, while the core is expected unchanged at 0.3%.  The spillover of the big shift in fuel prices is a bit of a wild card, as is the ongoing disinflation of rental prices.

Whether it is an obscure band or an eatery in San Diego, a well-known palindrome is “tacocat.” Huh? Yes, it’s the same spelled backward or forward. You hadn’t heard that one? How about this one: “Rob, have you heard that when Lender XYZ funds a loan, it is sold to an investor, and usually the servicing is sold to someone else, but then Lender XYZ and its LO quickly offer to refinance the loan when rates drop. At that point Lender XYZ makes its origination fee again, and the investor and servicer lose out.” Yes, it’s everywhere as originators and lenders scramble for business. Current and previous clients are good sources, as other sources are tough to find: With the NAR verdict in Missouri being a sign of the times, where are LOs supposed to go for referral sources if not the buyer’s agent in the future? (Today’s podcast can be found here, sponsored by LoanCare, the mortgage subservicer known for delivering superior customer experience through personalization and convenience. Its award-winning portfolio management tool, LoanCare Analytics, supports MSR investors with a focus on customer engagement, liquidity, and credit risk. Hear an interview with Loanspark’s Michael Barnett on the commercial real estate space and why residential mortgage professionals should care about it.) Lender and Broker Software, Products, and Services Most schoolchildren learn about Laika, the first dog in space. But my cat Myrtle wants to share a lesser-known fact: in 1963, for the first (and only) time in history, a feline was launched into space. Like her fellow space program participants, Félicette was a trailblazer. Now, 60 years later, Dark Matter Technologies is invoking that same pioneering spirit in its quest to shape the future of lending under new leadership and new investments in its flagship Empower LOS. Learn more about Dark Matter’s bold new vision.

An article’s handling of COVID loan forbearance for veterans is an unfortunate example of how American journalism has become compromised by progressive politics, often by ignoring or twisting the facts, writes the chairman of Whalen Global Advisors.

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