Tag: the fed

While it might not seem like the sort of thing mortgage rates should care about, the senate run-off election in Georgia was by far and away this week’s most important event. This wasn’t a surprise either. In fact, interest rates have been bracing for this potential impact since the inconclusive results in early November. But why do rates care about politics? Actually, they don’t! Not too much, anyway. Rates care about the prices and yields of certain bonds in the bond market above all else. Bond prices can take a variety of cues, but the most basic and most objective input is that of supply and demand. Supply and demand can be influenced by several underlying factors. For instance, the Fed currently buys more than $100 billion in bonds each month. That has a huge impact on the demand side of