Rates Fall For First Time in Over a Week

Closely following intraday moves for the bond market and mortgage rates means that seemingly insignificant time frames are actually important.  For instance, it's actually not too common for rates to make it more than 5 business days without falling at least once--even if only slightly.  Thankfully, today's modest drop in rates puts an end to just such a streak (rates hadn't improved since last Monday).

In a way, this improvement was almost "owed" to prospective mortgage borrowers considering yesterday's counter-intuitive results (higher rates despite bond market gains).  For a few moments this morning, it wasn't entirely clear that we would see any improvement.  Bonds initially balked at an inflation report released this morning (spoiler alert: it's still high), but were ultimately able to find their footing.  Positive momentum continued into the afternoon after a well-received auction of 30yr Treasury bonds.  

By the end of the day, many lenders issued pricing improvements in response to the bond market gains.  These are fairly small in the bigger picture (effective 30yr fixed rates are only 0.02% lower), but that is often the case when the market is trying to establish a new ceiling for rates after a quick move higher.