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Just to make sure I don't fall into Chicken Little territory after last week's "you better lock now" post, I thought I'd share how swiftly mortgage rates retreated after yesterday's FOMC announcement, and alert you to market improvements.

The FOMC press release hit the wires at 2:15 P.M. EST.  Here is a quick look at what happened, hour by hour:

• 2:00 P.M. : Mortgage-backed bonds were up 12 basis points
• 3:00 P.M. : Mortgage-backed bonds were up 25 basis points
• 4:00 P.M. : Mortgage-backed bonds were up 34 basis points

The momentum continued this morning (and figures are cumulative, not daily):

• 9:00 A.M. : Mortgage-backed bonds were up 46 basis points
• 10:00 A.M. : Mortgage-backed bonds were up 50 basis points

Markets have been turning negative, though, and today's gains have evaporated.  Right now, we are up 37 basis points over Tuesday's close and I am getting text-messaged by my data services that mortgage rates are set to reprice within an hour or so.

Even if you miss the mid-day rate reprice today, though, the huge gain yesterday equates to a 0.125-0.250% mortgage rate improvement over Tuesday's levels and any improvement is okay by me.  Considering how quickly rates spiked earlier this week, I consider the improvement a victory for rate shoppers. 

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