New York, Jan 15, 2026, 06:32 EST — Premarket
- Rocket Companies down 0.4% premarket; UWM up 1.6% as mortgage stocks trade mixed
- MBA says applications jumped 28.5% last week as the 30-year fixed rate fell to 6.18%
- Traders watch U.S. data and bond yields for the next move in mortgage rates
Rocket Companies shares were down about 0.4% in premarket trading on Thursday, lagging UWM Holdings and PennyMac Financial, as investors weighed a sharp pickup in mortgage demand against fresh volatility in U.S. rates markets. LoanDepot slipped and homebuilder ETFs also edged lower.
The moves matter because mortgage stocks tend to follow rate expectations more than broad equity indexes. A small drop in mortgage rates can pull sidelined borrowers back into refinancing and home-shopping, lifting volume for lenders whose revenue depends on originations.
But the trade has been jumpy. Mortgage rates can fall for a week and then snap back if long-term Treasury yields rise, because most U.S. mortgages are priced off longer-dated rates rather than the Federal Reserve’s overnight target.
Mortgage applications jumped 28.5% in the week ended Jan. 9, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday, with refinancing up 40% and purchase applications up 16%. Joel Kan, the MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist, said “lower rates, including the 30-year fixed rate declining to 6.18 percent,” helped drive the rebound after a holiday-adjusted period. 1
The rate move follows a directive by President Donald Trump for $200 billion in mortgage bond purchases via the government-sponsored enterprises, a plan that helped lift housing-linked stocks when it first hit markets last week. 2
Housing data have been showing tentative improvement even before the latest pop in applications. Existing home sales rose 5.1% in December to a 4.35 million annual rate, while the median price rose 0.4% from a year earlier to $405,400, a Reuters report on Wednesday showed. 3
The clearest benchmark on “mortgage rates today” is still Freddie Mac’s weekly survey, which last pegged the average 30-year fixed at 6.16% as of Jan. 8. Freddie Mac releases its survey on Thursdays at noon ET, so markets will be looking for the next update later in the day. 4
The risk for mortgage bulls is that long-term yields push higher again. A Reuters report on Thursday described investors bracing for higher long-term yields amid a Justice Department investigation involving Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, with strategist Thierry Wizman at Macquarie warning that efforts to pressure the Fed can “backfire,” and JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum saying the fight could “lead to higher rates” and complicate attempts to revive housing. 5
In the near term, traders will watch U.S. jobless claims and regional factory surveys due later on Thursday for any knock-on effect on Treasury yields. Next week, attention turns to the Federal Reserve’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting for clues on how quickly officials expect to cut rates — and whether markets can keep mortgage rates drifting lower. 6
