Why Are Bonds Surging This Morning?

Why Are Bonds Surging This Morning?

Bonds were modestly and inconsequentially stronger in the overnight session. By 8am, this brought 10yr yields just under 4.30%.  Less than an hour later, yields fell to 4.23 and MBS rose over 3/8ths of a point on a trio of headlines. The first was a detail from a proposed plan to end the war (involving unfreezing Iranian assets in exchange for Uranium). The second was a notification about negotiations in Islamabad this Sunday which trump might personally attend. The third was the biggest market mover and involved Iran's Foreign Minister announcing a reopening of Hormuz for the remainder of the ceasefire. It's unclear how that information interacts with the U.S. blockade, but the market doesn't seem to be asking that question.

Market Movement Recap
08:41 AM

Modest overnight gains and then more buying on war headlines. MBS up over a quarter point and 10yr down 5.3bps at 4.262

01:03 PM

MBS up 13 ticks (.41) and 10yr down 8bps at 4.237

Latest Video Analysis

Volatility Picked up After Slow Start

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.0 99.53 +0.33 10YR 4.246% -0.071% 4/17/2026 3:49PM EST
This alert doesn't necessarily connote any serious negative reprice risk, but it's a heads up for those who were already planning on locking today. If that describes you, there's probably no reason to wait at this point. MBS are still up 10 ticks (.31), but this is just over an eighth of a point below the AM highs.  In isolated cases, the jumpiest lenders have repriced for the worse in these situations, but it's not very likely unless we were to lose a few more ticks....   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.29% -0.03% 15YR Fixed 5.91% -0.05% 4/17/2026
On average, today's top-tier 30 year fixed mortgage rates are exactly the same as yesterday's. Rates are driven by the bond market and bonds continue waiting for bigger developments in the Iran war. At the moment, the market is in a sort of limbo as time remains on the 2-week ceasefire. In the meantime, there's a multitude of lower consequence war-related headlines on any given day. These have caused a bit of back and forth volatility in bonds, but not enough directional ...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Friday, Apr 17
12:15PM Fed Barkin Speech
2:00PM Fed Waller Speech
Monday, Apr 20
12:00AM Roll Date - Ginnie Mae 30YR
Read My Latest Newsletter
The good news: mortgage rates ended the week at the lowest levels in more than a month. The puzzling news: rates fell only modestly on Friday even though the bond market said they could have fallen more. Mortgage lenders consider several factors when deciding where to set mortgage rates. By far and away, the bond market is the most important of those factors. But sometimes rates don't do exa... READ MORE