by Calculated Risk on 4/18/2022 09:02:00 PM

From Matthew Graham at Mortgage News Daily: Rates Jump Back Up to Match Multi-Year Highs

The average mortgage lender was quoting conventional 30yr fixed rates of 5.25% last Monday for top tier scenarios--the highest since late 2018. [30 year fixed 5.25%]
emphasis added

Tuesday:
• 8:30 AM ET, Housing Starts for March. The consensus is for 1.750 million SAAR, down from 1.769 million SAAR in February.

On COVID (focus on hospitalizations and deaths):

COVID Metrics
	Now	Week Ago	Goal
Percent fully Vaccinated	65.9%	---	≥70.0%1
Fully Vaccinated (millions)	218.9	---	≥2321
New Cases per Day3🚩	35,212	29,246	≤5,0002
Hospitalized3	8,885	9,947	≤3,0002
Deaths per Day3	373	494	≤502
1 Minimum to achieve "herd immunity" (estimated between 70% and 85%). 2my goals to stop daily posts, 37-day average for Cases, Currently Hospitalized, and Deaths 🚩 Increasing 7-day average week-over-week for Cases, Hospitalized, and Deaths ✅ Goal met.

Click on graph for larger image.

This graph shows the daily (columns) and 7-day average (line) of deaths reported.

Hospitalizations and deaths are declining, but new cases are increasing.

Average daily deaths are the lowest since early July 2021.  Average daily deaths bottomed in July 2021 at 214 per day.