I have been a mortgage lender for 19 years & there is no rhyme nor reason to explain rate fluctuations. Typically when the stock market tanks, people dump money into bonds and the 10 yr note causes rates to drop. Last week when the DOW dropped 1,200 pts, rates made a hefty drop in the morning, but when the correction came and inched closer to 600, rates retracted and essentially erased all the gains of the morning. There is no predicting, despite some sound, basic economic analysis that seems to always have an exception. There are just so many factors that go into rate pricing that you can't hang your hat on one thing. Way too complex. My suggestion to people who are buying is get your home under contract, get your rate locked, never compare because all those comparisons invariably aren't the same because so many factors affect pricing and one person could have a completely different situation than another & the comparisons just wouldn't be accurate. People never take those factors into account. They simply compare my rate and yours & that's impossible to really do accurately.