Mortgage Rates Jump Back Toward 7% After Jobs Report

Mortgage rates have enjoyed a nice run since May 21st, with the MND Index (average top tier 30yr fixed scenarios) falling from a recent peak of 7.08% to this week’s low of 6.87%. As recently as yesterday afternoon, rates were still much closer to those lows at 6.89%. 

One day can make a big difference and today turned out to be that day. We knew there was a risk of volatility due to the release of the big jobs report this morning. Unfortunately for rates, the news was less dire than markets were prepared for.

Specifically, traders of the bonds that influence interest rates were moving into a defensive position after this week’s previous economic reports foreshadowed some extra weakness in today’s jobs report. In this case, the defensive position would equate to…