As much as it may seem that financial markets are run by machines and code, humans are still crucial to day-to-day functioning. This is especially true in the mortgage-specific corners of the financial market.
During the winter holidays it becomes increasingly clear that something is “different”. These differences can manifest in different ways, but one of the most obvious is higher volatility.
In other words, it is easier for any given market motivation to affect prices. Today offered only a small example, but still sent higher rates for no apparent reason.
None of this is too important in the big picture – just a bit of background on the nature of the movement today. In general, we don’t pay too much attention to mortgage rate volatility going into the 2nd week of January. Until then, the nature of the holiday markets means the risk of random volatility is slightly higher than normal.
More specifically, the average lender is offering a conventional 30-year fixed rate today, about an eighth of a point higher than Friday afternoon.
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