Now today, we have another improvement in the bond market that looks quite similar to the one seen last week. This one arose due to hopes for some sort of de-escalation in Ukraine. The thought process is that de-escalation helps oil prices drop, thus easing upward pressure on inflation and allowing the Fed to be slightly less aggressive in making policy changes that are unfriendly to rates.
If recent instances of hope and the subsequent crushing of those hopes are any guide, this could certainly be another head fake. There’s no way to tell how likely that is. What we can say is that it would take several more days with bigger improvements to alter the broader rising rate trend.
The average lender was closest to 5.0% on Friday and Monday for top tier conventional 30yr fixed scenarios. Today’s number is closer to 4.875% for the same scenarios.
Click on graph for larger image.
This is a graph from Mortgage News Daily (MND) showing 30-year fixed rates from three sources (MND, MBA, Freddie Mac) since 2010.