Some mortgage and housing stocks escaped the market’s carnage on Friday, when investors sold off equities in the ongoing reaction to President Trump’s broad-based tariff program
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday down by 2,231 points, following a 1,679-point drop on Thursday.
Instead, the money flowed into the bond market, with the 10-year treasury yield hitting a low of 3.86% at one point and ending the trading day at 3.99%. Since Monday, the 10-year yield is 26 basis points lower, which is good news for mortgage rates.
Zillow’s rate tracker has the 30-year fixed rate mortgage down 7 basis points on the day to 6.64%; it was 17 basis points lower than last week’s average.
Among the hardest hit were Freddie Mac, down over 12% to $4.61, along with Fannie Mae more than 8% lower to $5.60. Reverse mortgage lender Finance of America was also down big, off 10.46% to $19.30.
On the other hand, the big gainers of the day were Loandepot, up 16.8% to $1.46 per share, and Rocket. The Detroit-based lender likely got some tailwinds from its agreement to buy Mr. Cooper and ended the day 11.44% higher at $15.43.
Earlier this week, Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Bose George surmised that investors were bidding down Mr. Cooper, as they were anticipating potential regulatory opposition to the deal.
In his note, George gave a takeout price for Mr. Cooper at $143.33. But the highest post-transaction announcement price was $137.60 on Wednesday.
On Friday, it closed at $134.20, crawling out of the red at the end of the trading day to be up 0.83%.
Other housing stocks which ended the day higher were KB Home, Lennar, Blend Labs, Pennymac Financial Services and Better.
UWM Holdings, which on a pro forma basis remains as the No. 1 lender even after Rocket acquires Mr. Cooper and Redfin, closed 0.45% lower, however, at $5.53.
Most mortgage and title insurers were all down in the same percentage range: Stewart was down 3.5%; Essent, just under 4%; Radian 4.5%; First American, 4.8%; Enact 4.9%; and MGIC, also down 4.9%.
NMI Holdings, however, was off 5.7% and Fidelity National, down 6.5%. The two firms that operate in multiple lines were down even more: Old Republic, 7.8% lower and Arch was down 8.8%.
