Highest Mortgage Rates In Months

It seems like just last week we were commenting on the extreme LACK of volatility in the mortgage rate landscape.  Starting last Thursday, things have changed quickly, and today was the worst of the bunch.

As is often the case, bad news for mortgage rates followed good news for the economy.  Several economic reports suggested more job growth and business activity than expected.  Since the Fed is looking for evidence of the opposite before it abandons plans to continue hiking rates, markets took this as an immediate comment on the likelihood of additional rate hikes.

The reaction in the bond market was so severe that mortgage rates made their biggest move in weeks, jumping even higher into the 7% range.  At the same time lender rates were being published for the day, Freddie Mac released its weekly survey showing 30yr fixed rates still down at 6.81%--higher than last week, but nowhere near a reflection of the move we've seen since then.

If this trend continues J Powell has certainly left the door open for more rate hikes at the next meeting. This could just be a ploy to keep the markets in check, but it is looking more and more likely that additional rate hikes are on the horizon!