Mortgage rates jumped higher today as bonds continued a move away from narrow Springtime range seen in March and early April.  Bonds dictate rate movement and yesterday saw the bond market make its first convincing attempt to break what had been a friendly, narrow range.  This of course coincided with a narrow range for rates in the past few months.  It was also "friendly" relative to the trajectory seen in the first part of the year.

When these sorts of ranges become established, the boundaries take on a special significance.  As soon as the floor or the ceiling is definitively broken, there tends to be some additional momentum in the direction of the break.  That's why yesterday's headline mentioned that bonds were suggesting "more trouble ahead."  I'd hoped to be wrong about that, but here's the trouble: today's rates are as high as they've been since March 21st.  A few lenders are slightly higher.  Thankfully, that doesn't mean too much of a change for most rate quotes.  Conventional 30yr fixed quotes for top tier scenarios are up 0.125% at most.  Even so, it makes sense to remain lock-biased as we may not have seen the last of the "additional momentum" mentioned above.