Mortgage Rates Fall Again as Investor Expectations Shift

Mortgage rates fell this week as trade tensions continue to dictate market movements.

Friday’s unexpected announcement that the Trump administration planned to raise tariffs on goods imported from Mexico roiled markets and dragged longer-term bond yields to fresh 20-month lows. Mortgage rates followed suit, hitting their lowest levels since late 2017.

Rates did edge higher in recent days, however, in response to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s suggestion that a cut to the federal funds rate may be necessary in the near term.

Increasingly, investors appear to be pricing in the notion that trade-related uncertainty is no longer a temporary concern.

During the past few weeks, mortgage rates have reacted less to trade-related news than Treasury yields, but that pattern changed this week as they began to follow a similar pattern.

More rate movements are likely on the way, as influential economic data releases – most notably Friday’s all-important jobs report – are scheduled for the coming days. Wednesday’s private payrolls data greatly underwhelmed, and given recent labor market strength, a poor jobs report on Friday would likely send mortgage rates down further and add to the mounting pressure on the Fed to cut interest rates.