Mortgage rates hit their best levels since late 2017 yesterday and have generally been making stellar moves for the past 2 weeks.  To be fair, it's been the broader bond market (which dictates mortgage rates, among other things) that's been making the most stellar moves.  Mortgages merely got pulled along for the ride.

It's disconcerting and perhaps even alarming, then, to see that broader bond markets scurried back in the other direction today.  Depending on the time of day, the bond market weakness (which coincides with rising rates) ranged from moderate to significant.  To put it in context, 10yr Treasury yields (which tend to move in concert with mortgage rates) moved higher at the fastest pace in nearly 2 months today.

With that in mind, it's nothing less than striking to consider the average lender continued to offer mortgage rates that were mostly in line with yesterday's offerings.  As is frequently the case, this has a lot to do with timing.  Yesterday afternoon brought bond market gains that never translated to mortgage rates.  That allowed many lenders a good amount of insulation against today's weakness.  Beyond that, the average lender hasn't been adjusting rates as quickly as markets have been moving. This, too, provides insulation. 

Unfortunately, the timing issues go both ways.  In today's case, there was some late bond market weakness that didn't make it into most lenders' rate sheets.  That would have a negative effect on rates tomorrow unless bonds manage to bounce back between now and then.