Mortgage rates put an end to the most recent spike that followed last Friday's jobs report. Most of the upward movement happened on Friday, but yesterday offered a modest aftershock. Those two days brought the top tier 30yr fixed rate up to 6.68 from 6.58 on Thursday. Today's average remained perfectly flat at 6.68%. War-related headlines had periodic impacts on both oil prices and the bond/rate market. The scariest moment of the day for rates followed a headline that Iran had shot down a U.S. helicopter. Trump posted that the U.S. must respond to that attack, but subsequent comments minimized the initial sense of urgency. Oil prices definitely bounced higher on the news, but bonds/rates were able to hold their ground without forcing mortgage lenders to raise rates in the afternoon. Tomorrow brings the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is the earlier of the two official government inflation reports on consumer-level prices. The market is already priced for the median economic forecast, as always. If the actual numbers come in much higher or lower than those forecasts, it could cause volatility for rates in either direction (i.e. higher inflation = higher rates and vice versa).

The average top-tier 30yr fixed mortgage rate rose 0.08% last Friday after the jobs report came in much stronger than expected. Today added another 0.02% of upward movement. Today's level of 6.68% is the 3rd highest of the past 9 months. Unlike Friday, there were no big-ticket economic reports driving volatility in rate markets. The only arguable cause and effect was seen earlier in the morning surrounding war-related headlines. These actually helped rates start the day lower than they otherwise would have. As the week continues, investors will remain tuned in to war-related developments as well as an important inflation report on Wednesday morning (the Consumer Price Index or "CPI"). 

Over the past three months, mortgage rate movement has been driven primarily by developments in the Iran war. It's not that war, itself, is a consideration, but rather the implications for fuel prices and inflation. Bonds care deeply about inflation and interest rates are based directly on bonds. When inflation isn't raging (or at the risk of raging), rates/bonds spend most of their time thinking about the economy. Lately, the data has been even-keeled enough that it hasn't had enough of an impact to override the war's inflation-related volatility, but today was an exception. The jobs report not only crushed expectations, but it revised the past 2 reports sharply higher as well. The net effect is that the labor market looks more like it's finding its footing (possibly even accelerating) and less like it is still in the downtrend that characterized the post-covid normalization.  If all that was confusing, here's the simple version. More people got jobs than expected and the market didn't like it because it removes any argument in favor of the Fed cutting rates. Fed rates don't equal mortgage rates, but Fed rate expectations for the future cause mortgage rate movement in the present (and Treasury movement, and stock market movement, etc.).  On a bright note, even after today's rout, the average lender remains under the highs seen on May 19th. The Iran war is still the most important input for rates, and a confirmed peace deal would still provide relief. 

After hitting long-term highs on May 19th, mortgage rates dropped somewhat quickly by May 26th. Ever since then, they've been moving back and forth in a very narrow range. Today's movement happened to be the good kind with the average lender cutting top-tier 30yr fixed rates by 0.03%. As always, keep in mind that mortgages are most commonly offered in 0.125% increments. When our daily rate index changes by only 0.03%, it's because we are also measuring the underlying costs associated with any given rate and extrapolating the relative impact on interest rates. To use a crude example, let's consider two different hypothetical rate quote options yesterday and today. Yesterday 6.625% at a cost of $12 upfront 6.50% at a cost of $24 upfront Today 6.625% at a cost of $9 upfront 6.50% at a cost of $21 upfront Now pretend you only have $15 to spend for closing costs. You still can't afford to buy your rate down to 6.5%, and you'll still be choosing the 6.625% quote. But while the interest rate portion of your quote didn't change, the actual interest cost improved.  Our index captures and expresses these improvements in a single number. 

Imagine being stuck at home watching TV for 3 months and only being able to stream one show. That's been the case for the bond market (which dictates interest rates) since the beginning of March. The show in question involves watching war-related headlines and reacting in roughly the same manner as oil prices. Today's episode was more interesting than yesterday's. Key details included reports of Iranian missile strikes on various U.S. and allied targets. In general, rates have improved on news that increases the odds of a peace deal. Unsurprisingly, today's headlines (technically, yesterday night, but reflected in today's rate movement) did the opposite. Thanks to headline fatigue and desensitization, the rate market has been responding with less volatility over the past few weeks. As such, today's increase was fairly modest in the big picture but nonetheless leaves rates near their highest levels in more than 9 months. [thirtyyearmortgagerates]