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10/29/2026

Federal Reserve hits pause on rate hikes despite resurgent inflation

FOMC meeting produces two dissents, leaving December tightening in play

On the cusp of Halloween, the Federal Reserve avoided trickery, providing a potential treat for rate-weary mortgage borrowers.

Wednesday’s decision by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to hold interest rates steady following September’s quarter-point rate hike was expected by more than 90% of futures traders tracked by CME FedWatch.

Widely seen as a safe play by Fed policymakers ahead of November’s midterm elections — with another FOMC meeting on deck in December to close the books on 2026 — the rate hold represents a pause in the U.S. central bank’s fight against 3%-plus inflation.

“While uncertainty remains elevated owing, in part, to geopolitical developments, domestic spending has been resilient,” the Fed’s official policy statement read. “Productivity growth is strong, and capital investment is robust. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little.”

The statement concluded: “Inflation remains elevated. The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the Committee’s 2% goal. The Committee will deliver price stability.”

The meeting produced dissents from Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, each of whom voted for a quarter-point rate hike.

The 10-2 vote to leave interest rates unchanged comes despite a pair of recent reports showing inflation trending in the wrong direction.

In September, the consumer price index registered 3.7% growth from a year ago, reflecting a 0.6% monthly gain. The producer price index, which measures supply-chain inflation, surged by 1.3% last month — its largest monthly gain since March 2022.

But the labor market also showed cracks in September, with U.S. employers adding just 29,000 positions.

Heading into the October FOMC meeting, Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, expected no action from the Fed. In commentary shared with Scotsman Guide on Tuesday, she said the December decision will be closely tied to oil prices and how fixed-income markets digest October’s inaction.

“It all depends on how the bond markets react to the Fed’s decision this week, and what happens with oil prices,” Cohn said. “Domestic oil is above $100 per barrel. Brent is up at $115 per barrel. That’s wildly inflationary. The 10-year Treasury is below 5% for the first time in over a month, but at some point, the high rising oil prices are going to bite us.”

For Charles Goodwin, vice president of investor mortgage sales at Kiavi, the October decision matters less than the tone set by Fed policymakers in post-meeting remarks. In emailed comments Tuesday, Goodwin noted that bond markets had already priced in one Fed rate hike in either October or December.

“If the Fed holds but accompanies it with a hawkish tone, it could hurt mortgage rates more than a hold with softer language,” he said, with hawkish referring to language implying a more restrictive rate environment.

Goodwin believes a hawkish stance could leave 30-year mortgage rates hovering in the mid-7% range or higher.

On the flip side, “If there is a hold but with a softer tone, for example referencing a softer jobs report, we might see a relief rally in yields,” he added.

10/21/2026

Home builders ramp up price cuts as sentiment hits 14-year low

The housing market’s builder blues are getting worse

Home builder sentiment sank to new depths in October as elevated borrowing costs continue to undermine homebuying affordability.

The seasonally adjusted Housing Market Index (HMI), jointly published Monday by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo, slumped three points from September’s mark to a 14-year low of 29.

All three component indexes declined in October, with the index gauging traffic of prospective buyers plummeting five points to 18. That is its lowest reading since April 2012, excluding the immediate onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.

“Housing remains squeezed by supply-side constraints and significant affordability challenges,” said NAHB Chief Economist Robert Dietz in an analysis published to the trade group’s website.

Six-months sales expectations fell five points to 32, while builders’ reported confidence in current sales conditions declined two points to 33, the HMI showed. Measured on a scale of 0 to 100, the index divides majority positive and negative market sentiment at 50. It has not crossed into positive territory since April 2024.

The chilling effect of higher mortgage rates on new-home purchase demand simultaneously prompted a large uptick in price reductions on new construction last month, the October builder survey indicated.

Approximately 43% of builders said they cut prices last month — the highest share in the past six years — compared to the 38% of builders who said they did so in September and 35% in August. Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported using sales incentives in October, matching September levels that had been the highest of 2026 so far.

“Demand persists, but higher mortgage rates, elevated construction costs and weaker consumer confidence are keeping more buyers on the sidelines,” added Dietz.

Meanwhile, home builders continue to contend with a range of other margin pressures that have forced the pace of single-family construction to contract for a second straight year.

High energy costs, Trump administration tariffs and trade disruptions, and construction labor shortages fueled by aggressive immigration enforcement and competition from data center projects have raised costs for builders to varying degrees across the U.S.

Rising interest rates across the economy have broadly raised builders’ financing costs, while expectations for mortgage rates above 7% through the end of next year prompted Dietz to forecast that single-family construction activity could decline again in 2027.

10/21/2026

Warsh’s silence on resurgent inflation is deafening

AI spending is the major driver of the U.S. economy — and increasingly a threat to the Federal Reserve’s inflation goals

“The defender of price stability” was the honorific bestowed by Kristalina Georgieva on Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh as she concluded their brief discussion on inflation and artificial intelligence in Bangkok on Friday.

But the managing director of the International Monetary Fund risks putting the cart before the horse just five months into Warsh’s four-year term as Fed chair.

A pair of hotter-than-expected inflation reports hit U.S. markets this week, revealing that five-plus years of above-target inflation has yet to be tamed since Warsh took office in May.

The Fed will enter a customary communications blackout period on Saturday ahead of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings scheduled for Oct. 28 and 29. Over two days, the 12 voting members of that rate-setting body will debate whether to raise the federal funds rate for a second consecutive month.

Financial markets hoping for a wink or nod from the Fed chair in advance of that meeting were bound to be disappointed, however.

“I don’t believe in saying now what I might do at the meetings we have in the balance of this year,” said Warsh during the discussion with Georgieva. That personal philosophy to policymaking has prompted the Fed chair to eliminate forward guidance from his policy announcements, cloaking the conduct of U.S. monetary policy in a newfound uncertainty.

“It’s a new chapter at the Fed and we’re not in that business anymore,” reiterated Warsh, whose use of the royal “we” underscores how increasingly at odds his insistence on silence appears when compared with the team of policymakers he oversees.

Filling the communications void
The FOMC voted unanimously in September to raise the federal funds rate by a quarter-point to its current range of 3.75% to 4% — the first such increase since 2023. With varying degrees of urgency, seven of the remaining 11 members of the committee have publicly expressed support for one or more additional hikes to bring down inflation.

In the past two weeks, a cadre of Fed policymakers appear committed to providing consumers and businesses with economic signals missing from Warsh’s public communications.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack have deliberately spoken in favor of giving markets forward notice about the trajectory of interest rate policy. Each has flagged the unproductive impact on consumers and businesses of markets pricing in too many or too few policy adjustments.

“Simply put, policymakers could signal where they are likely headed while acknowledging that there is no fixed final destination,” said Waller earlier this month.

Hammack told Reuters in an interview this week: “If someone wants to present me with an argument that says, not speaking is going to help the public and households and businesses make better decisions and understand the economy, and it’s going to help enhance our credibility as an institution, I’m all ears for it. I think it’s a pretty hard argument to make.”

These remarks may look like a mutiny to a chair who says his Fed is “no longer in the business” of giving policy nods. Outsourcing forward guidance to other policymakers only raises the stakes of Warsh’s silence.

AI and inflation
Economists widely agree that higher short-term borrowing rates are unlikely to ease underlying drivers of higher inflation, which include energy supply shocks, scuttled trade alliances and a steep drop in labor supply, as well as massive spending on the AI build-out and Trump administration tariffs.

But slowing resurgent inflation from a series of demand and supply pressures and returning inflation to the Fed’s 2% target are two different policy debates, with the latter possibly requiring much more aggressive action.

On Thursday in Bangkok, Georgieva asked Warsh how central bankers should think about the inflationary impacts of AI over the short term and the long term in the context of monetary policy. AI-related spending and investment is driving roughly half of U.S. economic output.

Warsh, who on multiple occasions has said “inflation is a choice,” responded that AI spending and investment is “obviously hitting the demand side of the economy before it’s going to hit the supply side.” He positioned AI as a “positive supply shock in the medium term,” from which global investors, governments and regulatory bodies are wagering productivity gains and disinflation will flow.

“But on the path to that positive supply shock we’re seeing increases in aggregate demand,” said Warsh. “It just is what it is.”

07/30/2026

Mortgage applications tumble as rates hit highest level in nearly a year

Refinancing led the decline, as rising mortgage rates and affordability pressures cooled borrower demand

A week after rebounding slightly, mortgage applications fell sharply in the third full week of July, marking the third decline in the past four weeks, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday. The group pointed to the highest interest rates in nearly a year, driven higher by last week’s spike in oil prices amid the Iran conflict, as the primary reason for the slowdown.

The Market Composite Index, the MBA’s measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 6.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis over the seven-day period ending July 24. The index fell 6% from the previous week on an unadjusted basis.

Refinance applications led the downturn, plunging 10% from the previous week and slipping 2% below their level from the same week one year ago.

The purchase market also saw large declines in applications. The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 4% from one week earlier, while unadjusted it decreased 3% compared with the previous week. Even so, purchase applications remained 3% higher than the same week a year ago.

“Following last week’s spike in oil prices, mortgage rates moved higher, with the 30-year fixed rate increasing to 6.76%, the highest rate since August 2025,” said Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA, in commentary accompanying the figures.

“This upward trajectory in rates continues to significantly impact refinance borrowers, with a 10% decline in refinance applications, including a steeper drop in government refinances,” Kan added.

The refinance share of mortgage activity fell to 39.5% of mortgage activity from 41.2% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share rose to 8.1% of total applications.

“Despite housing inventory increasing in certain markets, higher rates have added to ongoing affordability challenges for many homebuyers, which drove the decrease in purchase activity over the week,” Kan observed.

Government loans weren’t exempt from the decreases. The share of loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration decreased to 16.9% from 17% a week earlier, and those backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs dropped to 12.6% from 13.2% the week prior. The U.S. Department of Agriculture share of applications fell to 0.4% from 0.5% the previous week.

07/15/2026

Mortgage credit access falls to six-month low in June

Lenders pull back on government refinance programs amid expansion in non-QM and jumbo options

Mortgage credit availability fell in June to its lowest level since December, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) said Tuesday, amid a pullback in government-insured refinance programs.

The MBA’s Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), which tracks changes in credit underwriting conditions across the mortgage market, declined 2% to land at 105.8 last month. The index had held steady in May following a 0.4% slide in April.

“A contraction in government loan programs accounted for a significant share of the June decrease,” noted Joel Kan, deputy chief economist at the MBA, in commentary accompanying the June figures.

The MCAI represents an aggregate measure of consumer access to mortgage financing. It is calculated using variables related to eligibility, including credit scores and loan-to-value ratios, as well as the variety of loan programs and structures actively being offered by lenders.

A decline in the MCAI, which analyzes data from ICE Mortgage Technology, indicates tighter lending conditions, while an increase in the index reflects looser lending standards.

Federal housing regulators, responding to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in March, have begun to solicit public input on ways to expand mortgage credit access, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announcing last week it was specifically reviewing regulations related to mortgage disclosure laws.

Kan said lenders last month pulled back on streamlined refinance loan programs insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Department of Veterans Affairs — particularly for borrowers with high loan-to-value ratios and those with low credit scores, who typically represent riskier mortgage collateral.

The conventional component index, which tracks credit access for loans that meet Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac underwriting guidelines, declined 0.1% in June after rising 0.2% during May. The broader government component index plunged 4.6% over the month after being unchanged in May.

Within the conventional index, credit availability for jumbo mortgages with balances that surpass conforming loan limits rose 0.6%, while the conforming index fell 2.2%. The contraction in agency loan programs satisfying Fannie, Freddie and government lending guidelines coincided with continued growth in non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) options.

Overall mortgage rate-lock volumes increased 10% from May and 15% from a year ago in June, according to Optimal Blue data. Non-QM loans accounted for about one-fifth of production as Fannie and Freddie lock shares remained under 50% of total volumes for the third consecutive month.

“The jumbo index increased slightly, supported by new non-QM programs,” added Kan, which he described as “consistent” with data showing a larger share of non-QM production in June.

Mortgage rates have remained around 6.5% or higher since the middle of May, according to MBA data. The elevated rate environment has weakened mortgage affordability as investors navigate a range of uncertainties raising long-term financing costs, from inflationary pressures of the Iran war to widening federal spending deficits and regime change at the Federal Reserve.

06/18/2026

No dissents as Fed keeps interest rates unchanged for fourth straight meeting

The central bank stayed the course despite having a new leader at the helm

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday in Kevin Warsh’s first meeting captaining the monetary ship.

There was unanimity in the voting results, with no members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) dissenting.

But the corresponding “dot plot” in the accompanying Summary of Economic Projections showed differing opinions on the path of interest rates by year-end, with eight members of the full 19-member FOMC predicting no change, nine members predicting rate hikes and one forecasting a rate cut.

Taken collectively, the median projection for the benchmark federal funds rate was 3.8% by year-end, up from 3.4% in the previous survey taken in March. Six FOMC members penciled in at least two quarter-point rate hikes in 2026.

One member in the anonymous survey withheld their projection. Heading into the meeting, many Fed watchers predicted Warsh would not provide economic forecasts, which he confirmed in his post-meeting press conference.

“Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East,” the official policy statement read. “Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little.”

The statement concluded: “Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee’s 2% goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy. The Committee will deliver price stability.”

Warsh, along with the 11 other voting members of the FOMC, voted to keep the federal funds rate in its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%, marking his first FOMC vote since January 2011. He resigned from the Fed’s board in March 2011 over objections to an economic stimulus plan involving the central bank purchasing $600 billion worth of bonds.

In April, following Jerome Powell’s last meeting as Fed chair, three FOMC members dissented over an “easing bias” in the policy statement, meaning language implying the next rate move will be lower. The Fed typically cuts rates when inflation slows or the labor market stalls.

That easing language was removed from the notably slimmed-down policy statement in June, which eschewed forward guidance but reaffirmed the committee’s “policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system.”

In the intermeeting period, two widely tracked measures of inflation posted scorching hot readings.

The personal consumption expenditures price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation measure — grew at a 3.8% annual rate in April. The consumer price index registered a 4.2% annual growth rate in May. The Fed maintains a 2% inflation target as part of its official mandate.

On the labor front, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported U.S. employers added a robust 172,000 jobs in May, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.3%.

Those reports sealed the deal on the Fed keeping rates unchanged in the eyes of the financial markets, with CME FedWatch reporting nearly 100% odds of a rate hold heading into the June FOMC meeting

05/15/2026

Fannie Mae predicts little change in mortgage rates for a very long time

The GSE sees modest improvements in the housing market this year

Prospective homebuyers and refinance candidates patiently holding out for lower mortgage rates may have to wait a while, according to Fannie Mae’s latest economic and housing forecasts.

The government-sponsored enterprise predicts the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage will average 6.3% during the second half of 2026. Next year, Fannie foresees a modest dip of 10 basis points by the second quarter — but that’s it, anticipating rates will average 6.2% for remainder of 2027.

Its fellow GSE, Freddie Mac, reported 30-year home loans averaged 6.36% over the seven-day period ending Thursday, a nearly identical mark to the prior week’s average and April’s monthly average.

Despite the range-bound interest rate climate, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Wednesday that its seasonally adjusted mortgage purchase index increased 4% during the week ending May 8, though refinances dropped 1%.

In commentary provided to Scotsman Guide, MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit suggested homebuyers may be resigned to higher-for-longer rates.

“Purchase activity increased across all loan categories and remained ahead of last year’s pace,” Broeksmit noted, “signaling that buyers are adapting to the current high-rate environment.”

2025 was a rocky year for U.S. home sales, according to Fannie Mae data. Total home sales finished the year around 4.76 million units, essentially flat from the prior year. New single-family home sales fell 1%, while sales of previously occupied homes totaled around 4.08 million units, a gain of just 0.4%.

This week’s forecasts from Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group call for a 2.6% gain in existing-home sales in 2026 but a 0.9% decline in new-home sales. The outlook for 2027 is much rosier, however, with new-home sales projected to increase by 3.7% and existing-home sales by 7.2%.

But the ESR Group expects total housing starts to decline by 0.4% next year, with a 4% increase in multifamily starts offset by a 2.4% slump in single-family construction.

Fannie’s broader economic outlook predicts the annual rate of inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, will soar as high as 4.5% during the second quarter of 2026, before retreating to 3.8% during the fourth quarter and settling below the Federal Reserve’s 2% target by the second quarter of 2027.

The ESR Group expects the unemployment rate will remain between 4.4% and 4.5% through the end of 2027.

Those inflation and labor market trends will keep the federal funds rate anchored in its current range of 3.5% to 3.75% for the foreseeable future, the Fannie Mae economists predict, with the next Fed rate cut not occurring until the latter half of 2027.

05/05/2026

Experts see higher floor for mortgage rates as Iran war drags on

Three central bankers see an ‘easing bias.’ Would striking it from Fed policy help mortgage borrowers?

A trio of Federal Reserve officials caused a stir Wednesday when they called out language in the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement on monetary policy and economic conditions.

In an 8-4 vote, the FOMC maintained the federal funds rate at its current level between 3.5% and 3.75%. Fed Governor Stephen Miran, as expected, favored a 0.25% reduction. But in a surprising move, Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari and Lorie Logan also dissented.

Those regional Fed presidents, who cycled into voting roles on the FOMC in January, all supported the rate hold. But they objected to what they described as an “easing bias” in the policy statement, referring to language that implies the next directional policy move will be a rate cut, not a rate hike.

Though Hammack, Kashkari and Logan have taken hawkish postures in recent public remarks — meaning a monetary stance that prioritizes lower inflation over economic growth — this is the first time they have formally voted against consensus in 2026.

The four committee dissents are the most since 1992 — a sign of increasing divisions at the central bank during a period of heightened economic uncertainty caused by the ongoing war in Iran.

Would removing the easing bias lower mortgage rates?
Treasury bond yields and mortgage rates moved higher following the Fed rate announcement, though that was also due to surging oil prices amid heightened tensions in the Middle East conflict.

But how would markets react if the easing bias were struck from the Fed’s forward-looking policy? Scotsman Guide posed that question to several economists and mortgage leaders, including Doug Duncan, founder of advisory firm Duncanomics and former chief economist at Fannie Mae.

“Dropping the easing bias could bring longer rates down somewhat if the market concluded that the Fed was more serious about getting inflation down,” Duncan says. “It is true the market will have to determine whether the Fed will ‘look through’ the Iran war and energy price rise in its positioning vis-a-vis underlying inflation, which is running at 3%.”

But Joe Panebianco, CEO of AnnieMac Home Mortgage, thinks striking the easing bias from the Fed’s stance could have sent mortgage rates higher, pointing out that short-term U.S. Treasury debt is already pricing in what removing the easing language may have accomplished.

“A removal of the easing bias would suggest that the Fed is comfortable with rates where they are now and might now be balanced between easing and tightening,” Panebianco tells Scotsman Guide.

Mike Vough, who leads corporate strategy for mortgage data platform Optimal Blue, says that even if the easing bias had been removed, rates would likely still be elevated, reinforcing his view that financial markets are “not yet entering a traditional easing cycle, but instead adjusting to a longer period of restrictive, but stable, policy.”

“At current levels, mortgage rates don’t have much room to fall sustainably without a clearer turn in inflation or stabilization of global risk factors,” Vough says.

Jeremy Collett, chief capital markets officer at Rate, believes any move lower in mortgage rates would likely be “very limited” given the relative hawkishness now coalescing at the Fed.

“The committee acknowledged rising geopolitical uncertainty and energy-driven inflation risks, reinforcing that policy patience is no longer a one-way street,” Collett says.

“This doesn’t read as the end of a cycle so much as a transition phase,” he continues, “one where the bar for materially lower rates is significantly higher and increasingly dependent on a clear deterioration in growth or labor conditions that simply isn’t showing up yet.”

‘A more mature phase’
After rising from roughly 6% in February to over 6.5% in late March as the economic impacts of the Iran war flowed through financial markets, average mortgage rates on 30-year fixed-rate loans stabilized between 6.3% and 6.35% through most of April, according to Freddie Mac data.

Net effects on lenders have included a pullback in refinances, though purchase mortgage demand has sustained a rebound from March lows into the end of April.

On Wednesday, following the Fed decision, the 30-year rate jumped 12 basis points to 6.5%, per the Mortgage News Daily Rate Index.

The chief and deputy chief economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association, Mike Fratantoni and Joel Kan, predict 30-year interest rates will range between 6% and 6.5% this year. But they envision rates “leaning towards the upper end of that range if the war with Iran drags on.”

A broader evolution in the market is underway, however, according to Selma Hepp, chief economist at real estate market analytics firm Cotality.

“I wouldn’t characterize this as the end of a mortgage cycle, but rather a transition to a more mature phase,” observes Hepp. “The refinancing-driven, policy-fueled cycle is largely behind us. What lies ahead is a more rate‑constrained environment where affordability, borrower behavior and product innovation matter more than incremental Fed signaling.”

For that reason, she thinks mortgage rates hovering between 6.3% and 6.4% reflects a “balance between moderating domestic growth and persistent upside risks to inflation tied to geopolitical uncertainty, elevated energy prices, federal spending (war included) and ongoing trade and supply-side shocks.”

“As long as those pressures remain, the effective floor for mortgage rates is higher than in prior easing cycles,” says Hepp.

The Cotality economist suggests any meaningful easing in mortgage borrowing costs will require a durable drop in oil prices, a sharp economic slowdown in economic activity to cool inflation, or a generalized risk-off environment to drive U.S. Treasury yields lower.

“Absent those conditions, any further declines are likely to be temporary rather than structural,” she concludes.

03/27/2026

Mortgage rates surge as bond markets reel from global energy crisis

After dipping below 6% at the end of February, rates have risen every week since: Freddie Mac

If March’s mortgage rate trajectory is a sign of things to come, April will be the cruelest month for prospective homebuyers thus far in 2026.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage jumped 16 basis points over the past week to land at an average of 6.38%, according to Freddie Mac data released Thursday. The 15-year fixed rate gained 21 basis points, rising from 5.54% to 5.75%.

In commentary released with the weekly rate survey, Freddie Mac Chief Economist Sam Khater framed the current rate environment in historical context.

“The housing market continues to show gradual improvements compared to a year ago amid recent rate volatility,” Khater stated. “Purchase and refinance applications are up year over year, and rates remain lower than last year when they averaged 6.65%.”

But the Mortgage News Daily Rate Index, which tracks daily changes in lender rate sheets, put the 30-year rate at 6.55% as of Thursday, a 0.55% increase from a month prior.

Mortgage rates move in close concert with U.S. Treasury yields, which have traveled on a steady upward path over the past month.

The 10-year Treasury yield stood near 4.42% as of midday Thursday. That’s an increase of nearly 50 basis points from Feb. 27, sparked by the U.S. and Israel’s joint airstrikes on Iran and fanned by the ensuing global oil shock from the Strait of Hormuz closure.

The 2-year Treasury yield breached the 4% threshold just prior to this article’s publication, while a 7-year note auction conducted Thursday attracted weak demand from investors, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, as optimism about a potential ceasefire in the Middle East turned to pessimism, Brent crude oil again fetched over $100 a barrel on Thursday.

The increase in borrowing costs has put a noticeable dent in mortgage demand.

Mortgage application volumes fell 10.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ending March 20, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported, with both purchases and refinances taking a hit. That comes on the heels of a 10.9% decrease the previous week.

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