Mortgage rates launched to their highest levels in more than 3 months yesterday for a variety of reasons.  Chief among them was a series of comments from both China and the US about the intent to cancel previously announced tariffs as a part of the phase 1 trade deal.  Tariffs and trade have been weighing on the economic outlook in a big way, and that's benefited interest rates.  Anything that lessens the weight has the opposite effect.

Notably, the bond market failed to improve very much today even after Trump said that there was no agreement to roll back tariffs yet, even though there was a clear reaction.  This could be due to the fact that markets expect a deal to be worked out eventually, but bigger-picture momentum is also a consideration.  Simply put, rates have been moving so much lower for so long that they could be entering a natural corrective phase that creates its own upward momentum regardless of incoming news and events.