fed

March Mortgage Outlook: Rates Unlikely to Fall – NerdWallet

March Mortgage Outlook: Rates Unlikely to Fall  NerdWallet

Mortgage rates declined amid banks failures. What’s next?

Mortgage rates fell last week after a regional bank deposit run provoked a liquidity crisis, but what’s next for the housing market?

Not all deposits at other banks are guaranteed, Yellen tells Congress

WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in her first public remarks since the stunning intervention by financial regulators Sunday evening to guarantee all uninsured depositors in two bank failures, fended off concerns from lawmakers about the extent of the government’s actions.  Yellen’s testimony in the Senate Finance Committee is the first time a high-ranking official … [Read more…]

DPA, Subservicing, Loss Mit, Fee Collection Tools; Banking… This is Not 2008; STRATMOR on Customer Experience

The Ides of March… And college basketball time. Here in Kentucky (men #6 in the East, Louisville women’s team #5) I overheard someone on the phone. “Yesterday I saw a woman in Walmart with March Madness teeth. She was down to her final four.” March Madness is in full swing, whether it is hoops or bonds. Or bank stocks. Is this really a fundamental structural plunging of the United States’ financial system? Doubtful. Moody’s came out with a warning about downgrading certain banks in the United States. It is not 2008. How much of this is psychology? Tweeting causing a run on deposits? Banks everywhere are looking at their liabilities (deposits, since they owe their depositors money) and assets (the money lent out using their depositor’s money, or securities owned. “Lending long and borrowing short” works when banks can pay very little on their deposits (like checking accounts earning 0 percent) and take that money and earn 4 or 6 percent on securities. But when the deposit base becomes unstable, and a bank has to liquidate those securities at 80 or 90 cents on the dollar, it becomes a problem fast. (Much more below.) Today’s podcast can be found here and this week is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology, and other services in the mortgage industry and in banking. Today’s has an interview with Bank of England Mortgage’s Quinton Harris on the art and science of forecasting the housing, mortgage, and bond markets.

Latest housing starts data is good for mortgage rates

Typically, good economic data is bad for mortgage rates, especially in this environment. But added supply is a positive.

Mortgage rates drop in wake of bank failures – CNN

  1. Mortgage rates drop in wake of bank failures  CNN
  2. Mortgage Rates Drop Back to Monday’s Lows After More Big Bank Drama  Mortgage News Daily
  3. Buyers, get moving: Today’s 30-year mortgage rates dive below 6% | March 16, 2023  Fox Business

Big banks to rescue First Republic with $30B in deposits 

A group of 11 U.S. banks has agreed to make $30 billion in deposits at First Republic Bank to avoid another regional bank failure.

Game Off, Game On For Banking Fears

After systemic banking fears died down earlier in the week, Credit Suisse and other European banks are saying “game on!”  Stock prices of said banks led a market-wide sell-off in equities overnight.  Bonds rallied on the flight-to-safety, and yields are now back near Monday’s lows. With the Fed in the midst of the typical 11-day communications blackout ahead of the next meeting, speculation has been running fairly wild as to how recent events affect the rate outlook.  To be fair, most of the “running wild” is a product of the new itself.  The Fed’s blackout period only adds a modest amount of uncertainty. If you ask financial markets, everyone is fairly certain the Fed still hikes 25bps next week.  After that, it’s anyone’s guess as Fed Funds Futures suggest rate cuts on the horizon.  The overnight news brings December’s Fed rate outlook to even lower levels than those seen on Monday. Long story short, the overnight move resets the board to be roughly in line with Monday morning.  It’s like one of those placards at the work place that boasts “number of days without an accident.”  We got up to “2” yesterday, and rates had risen accordingly. Now it’s back to zero, even though the Credit Suisse rout isn’t the same sort “accident” as SVB or Signature.