NEW YORK, Jan 9, 2026, 06:40 EST — Premarket
- Trump ordered a $200 billion purchase of mortgage bonds to try to push borrowing costs lower
- Rocket Companies rose 6.45% premarket; loanDepot jumped 18.85%; Opendoor gained 8.24%
- Freddie Mac’s latest 30-year fixed rate averaged 6.16%; traders await the 8:30 a.m. ET U.S. jobs report
U.S. mortgage-linked stocks jumped in premarket trading on Friday after President Donald Trump ordered a $200 billion purchase of mortgage bonds, a move aimed at lowering mortgage rates today and improving housing affordability.
The policy push lands at a sensitive moment for the housing market. Mortgage rates have eased from last year’s highs, but not enough to unlock demand in a market where prices have stayed elevated and inventories remain tight.
Freddie Mac’s latest weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.16% for the week ended Jan. 8, while Mortgage News Daily’s daily index showed 6.21% on Thursday, underscoring how close rates have hovered to the low-6% area. https://www.freddiemac.com/pmms/pmms_archi…
Trump said on Truth Social he was instructing his representatives to buy $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities — bonds backed by pools of home loans — and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would execute the purchases. Redfin’s head of economics research, Chen Zhao, said the plan would likely shave just 10 to 15 basis points off mortgage rates — a basis point is 0.01 percentage point — calling the effect “fairly small.” https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-ord…
Rocket Companies stock rose 6.45% in premarket trading to $22.61 after closing at $21.24 on Thursday, while loanDepot jumped 18.85% to $2.90 and Opendoor gained 8.24% to $6.96. UWM Holdings was up 6.16% to $5.00. https://public.com/stocks/rkt/pre-market https://public.com/stocks/ldi/pre-market https://public.com/stocks/open/pre-market
UWM went into Friday with fresh sell-side caution in the backdrop. Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the shares to $5 from $6 this week while keeping a Neutral rating, according to The Fly.
Rates expectations remain the bigger driver. Fed Governor Stephen Miran said he was looking for about “a point and a half” of rate cuts this year, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged the central bank not to wait too long, CNBC excerpts showed. https://www.reuters.com/business/feds-mira…
But the new bond-buying order comes with moving parts and missing details. If Friday’s jobs data or next week’s inflation numbers come in hotter than expected, Treasury yields could rise, pushing mortgage rates higher and taking some air out of the early gains in rate-sensitive housing names.
Pulte has also said Trump will decide in the next month or two whether to pursue an initial public offering of a stake in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a separate issue that could move the mortgage complex. The immediate test for rates — and for housing stocks’ opening bid — is the U.S. Employment Situation report due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with the December CPI report set for Jan. 13. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/t…
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