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This is a short list of things that don't control mortgage rates:

1. 10-Year Treasury Note
   The image at right is evidence -- even as treasuries were improving yesterday, we can plainly see that mortgage rates were sucking eggs.  Green means better rates; red means worse rates.
2. The Fed Funds Rate
   The Federal Reserve's benchmark lending rate is an overnight rate; mortgage rates are long-term rates.  If the two were connected, mortgage rates would be much lower today and this graph would look different.
3. Ben Bernanke
   See above.  Ben Bernanke is the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the group that sets the Fed Funds Rate. 
4. The Fictional 10-Year Treasury Bond
   Not only is there no such product -- treasury bonds have durations greater than 10 years -- but check out Paragraph #10.  0-for-2.
5. Chuck Norris
   Although, for as much as mortgage markets fear inflation, they fear Chuck Norris even more.

The only thing that sets mortgage rates in the U.S. is the price of mortgage bonds.

Dan Green is an active loan officer. Email or call 513-443-2020. Dan is on Twitter at @mortgagereports.