Mortgage Market Slows Down Again: Macro Matters

The supply of mortgage-backed securities remains very tight as refinancings have dried up again, Bloomberg Intelligence Mortgage Strategist Erica Adelberg says on the FICC Focus Podcast.  In this Macro Matters edition, Adelberg joins Chief US Interest Rate Strategist Ira Jersey to discuss recent housing and mortgage data, remarking on how exceptionally low application volume shows persistent stress on the market. Slow prepayments have caused light gross issuance, even with the Federal Reserve reducing its mortgage holdings. Adelberg says she thinks the Fed won’t consider selling mortgages directly as this could disrupt market function.  In the Interest Rate Intro segment, BI Strategy Associate Will Hoffman asks Jersey about the generally inverted yield curve. Jersey notes that the inversion is the market’s expectation of where policy rates will be in the future. He states that the market thinks the yield curve will be inverted for the next two years, but much less so than it is currently.