What a difference a week makes!  At the end of last week, things were pretty grim, with mortgage rates having just seen their worst single week since 2013.  The uplifting caveat at the time was that such bouts of nastiness are not that uncommon in the wake of ultra strong performances (such as the entire month of August--the best single month since 2002 if you can believe it!).  In other words, last week was a correction to August's impressive strength.

With that in mind, this week turned out to be a correction to last week's correction!  There was no way to be sure, but we were hoping it was overdone and that bond traders would step in to buy bonds (which pushes rates lower) in response to the big move.  That's exactly what happened and it resulted in measured improvements throughout the week.  Ironically, it was only really the day that the Fed cut rates that saw a less upbeat performance.  

From here, market participants are intently focused on economic data and trade-related updates.  The takeaway from Wednesday's Fed events was that the Fed will be nimble and openminded about cutting OR HIKING rates depending on the evolution of economic momentum.  While I've argued incessantly that the Fed Funds Rate doesn't dictate mortgage rates, I'll be the first to tell you that CHANGES in the FUTURE outlook for the Fed Funds Rate would have a big impact.