Increasing Signs of Bond-Specific Panic

Increasing Signs of Bond-Specific Panic

Ever since the initial 2 week ceasefire was announced in the Iran war, the bond market has adhered to trend channels that align with either de-escalation or re-escalation sentiment. Nothing too complicated here: if sentiment is trending in favor of peace, bonds have rallied. If sentiment is deteriorating, bonds have sold off. There was a temporary diversion as traders waited to see if last week's China summit would be a catalyst for a shift. When the summit failed to deliver, yields jumped back in line with the re-escalation trend. Now this morning, they're already challenging the bearish boundary of that trend WITHOUT any new justification from an oil price spike, stock market rout, or any new news on the war. In other words, bonds are telling politicians to get serious about ending the war or face increasingly dire consequences.

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Bombarded by Headlines, But Little-Changed

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.0
97.23
-0.19 
10YR TREASURY
4.620
+0.031 
5/19/2026 8:00AM EST
Ever since the initial 2 week ceasefire was announced in the Iran war, the bond market has adhered to trend channels that align with either de-escalation or re-escalation sentiment. Nothing too complicated here: if sentiment is trending in favor of peace, bonds have rallied. If sentiment is deteriorating, bonds have sold off. There was a temporary diversion as traders waited to see if last week's China summit would be a catalyst for a shift. When the summit failed to deliver,...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed
6.68%
+0.03% 
15YR Fixed
6.12%
+0.02% 
5/18/2026
Mortgage rates hit their highest levels in more than 9 months at the end of last week. Now today, they've edged slightly higher yet again with the average top tier 30yr fixed rate at 6.68% versus 6.65% on Friday. This wasn't necessarily destined to be the case today. In fact the day began with the average lender unchanged. But the underlying market remains highly attuned to breaking news on the Iran war. Earlier in the day, that news was helpful for rates as it spoke to ...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Tuesday, May 19
12:00AM Roll Date - Ginnie Mae 30YR
8:15AM ADP Employment Change Weekly 42.25K 33.0K
9:00AM Fed Waller Speech
10:00AM Apr Pending Home Sales (%) Apr 1.4% 1% 1.5%
11:30AM 6-Week Bill Auction (%) 3.615%
7:00PM Fed Paulson Speech
7:30PM Fed Venable Speech
Wednesday, May 20
7:00AM May/15 Mortgage Market Index May/15 290.1
7:00AM May/15 MBA Refi Index May/15 921.1
7:00AM May/15 MBA Purchase Index May/15 177.7
8:00AM Fed Paulson Speech
10:15AM Fed Barr Speech
10:30AM May/15 Crude Oil Inventory (ml) May/15 -4.306M
1:00PM 20-Yr Bond Auction (bl) 16
2:00PM FOMC Minutes