In case you missed it, mortgages sold off 0.75% yesterday.  Super-premium Freddie Mac mortgages did, anyway.  The 6.0%-6.5% coupons declined sharply, while the par coupon (4.5%) was mostly unchanged.  The premium price decline was triggered by Freddie’s buy-back announcement.  Freddie, rather than wait until loans default and then buy them back, will buy back all [...]

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“Is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath?”  Apparently so in more places than just the sand states, where it’s not such a wonderful life for many residents.  Cities like Memphis, New Orleans, and Detroit continue to report ever-more-severe problems [...]

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The Week Ahead in the Capital Markets  -   July 13, 2009

“5.25% is the new 4.75%,” said one trader.  Borrowers have realized that a 5.25% mortgage rate is not so bad after all, and waiting for rates to drop back to 4.75% may not be the best idea.  Mortgage origination volume, stalled completely for the month [...]

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The Week Ahead in the Capital Markets  -   May 27, 2009

The Obama put is facing its first test.  Can it hold?  Will it keep mortgage rates low?  The Federal Reserve is doing all it can.  Purchases of mortgage-backed securities have taken the Fed’s mortgage holdings above $350 billion.  The spread between mortgage and Treasury yields [...]

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