Mortgage rates were steady to slightly lower today, depending on the lender and the time of day.  Rates were higher earlier this morning as bond markets began the day in weaker territory (bonds drive rates).  Bonds have been in a weakening trend since the middle of last week when European political risks began to subside.

The early afternoon brought a wild and generally inexplicable move for bond markets.  Much in the same way that we've seen "flash crashes" in the stock market from time to time, bonds underwent their own sort of flash crash.  Actually, "crash" isn't the ideal word because the phenomenon involves a rapid improvement for bond prices and a rapid decline in bond yields. 

Although yields move in the same direction as rates, mortgage lenders only update their rate sheets as needed (and never more than a few times a day).  Most lenders made friendly adjustments to their rate sheets after the "flashy" movement, but it was barely enough to make today's rates better than yesterday's.