Posted To: Mortgage Rate Watch
Mortgage rates recovered some recently lost territory today following a press conference with European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi. While domestic mortgage rates are several degrees of removed from European monetary policy, there’s an undeniable connection. Many market participants expected more concrete action from the ECB, and expectations for that action have recently pressured US Treasury yields higher. When markets didn’t get as much as they expected from Draghi, stock prices and bond yields sank. The mortgage-backed-securities (MBS) that govern loan pricing tend to follow those broader bond market movements, but with just a bit less intensity. Today was no exception, and it allowed lenders to improve the costs associated with prevailing rates very slightly. Rates themselves…(read more)