From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: After Months of Relative Calm, Rates are Starting to Look Panicked Again
In 2023, there were multiple examples of mortgage rates moving up by roughly half a percent in a relatively short amount of time (1-3 weeks). Since the big shift in November, we’ve only seen one similar example and it was more of a technicality (a sharp drop in rates followed by a correction in early Feb), until today.
…
The culprit was economic data … this data does not line up with the notion of Fed rate cuts in the near term. It also had an immediate negative impact on the rest of the bond market, including the bonds that most directly dictate mortgage rates.The average lender is now back into the mid 7s for a top tier, conventional 30yr fixed scenario. [30 year fixed 7.44%]
emphasis added
Tuesday:
• At 8:30 AM ET, Housing Starts for March. The consensus is for 1.480 million SAAR, down from 1.521 million SAAR in February.
• At 9:15 AM, The Fed will release Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization for March. The consensus is for a 0.4% increase in Industrial Production, and for Capacity Utilization to increase to 78.5%.