Five Minute Maturity – 06/07/2021

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back for another week! Between the Fed’s large purchase cycles driving up prices and rapid prepayment speeds driving down realized yields, agency MBS have been a relatively unattractive investment since the start...

Five Minute Maturity – 06/04/2021

Good morning, and happy Friday! The expiration date on the eviction moratorium enacted by the CDC ten months ago is quickly approaching. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than ten million Americans are behind on their rent payments. The moratorium was put in...

Five Minute Maturity – 06/02/2021

Good morning and happy hump day. We have the scheduled housing and auto news today. At 6:00 central time, we got Mortgage Applications for the week ending May 28th. They came in lower again at -4.0%. We were coming off a soft -4.2% for the prior week. It seems fairly...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/26/2021

Good morning and happy hump day. We had one scheduled report today, Mortgage Applications for the week ending May 21, which came in at -4.2% after small up numbers the past 2 weeks (+2.1%/+1.2%). Most of the chatter this morning has focused on yesterday’s weaker...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/24/2021

Good morning! While we have not seen much of a pullback in the Fed’s asset purchases yet, the minutes from last month’s FOMC meeting made it clear that conversation was on the table. When the Fed snatches up agency MBS without regard to price, it allows...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/21/2021

Good morning and happy Friday! Today is a big day in scheduled housing releases. At 9:00 a.m. central time we got Existing Home Sales for April. March was still coming off the bad winter weather when we got a -3.7% print last month. The street was looking for a modest...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/19/2021

Good morning and happy hump day. If it’s Wednesday it must be the day for Mortgage Applications, this one for the week ending May 14th. Last week we got +2.1%. At 6:00 a.m. central today we got +1.2%. Yesterday’s Housing Starts number (-9.5% overall) contributed to...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/14/2021

Good morning, and happy Friday! The Fed’s total MBS purchases for the next two weeks are going to drop to $54.6 billion vs. last cycle’s $71.7 billion. A change in one cycle is certainly not enough to establish a trend, but if Fed purchases continue to taper off, that...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/12/2021

Good morning and happy hump day! Today’s the day we finally got back to some scheduled housing news, even if it is the weekly Mortgage Applications. This time we got the week ending May 7th. We’re coming off a lackluster -0.9% for the prior week ending April 30th. The...

Five Minute Maturity – 05/10/2021

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! While the housing market continues on its fiery tear, the mortgage market is likely to slow down somewhat in the next few months. Inflation is on the rise, as demonstrated by corn prices, gas prices, lumber prices, you name it! We...