The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose seven basis points Wednesday to 6.45 percent, its highest level since April 3, after President Trump said he would keep the U.S. naval blockade against Iran until the country agreed to a nuclear deal. Mortgage rates loosely track the 10-year Treasury yield, and Mortgage News Daily’s Matthew Graham said hopes for de-escalation had been replaced by “re-escalation fears.” Purchase applications still rose 1 percent last week and were 21 percent above a year earlier, helped by more supply and some easing in home prices.
Bond investors are treating the oil shock as the cleaner read on inflation risk. Brent crude futures were back above $109 a barrel, while the 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.39 percent Wednesday, up from below 4 percent in early March. MarketWatch reported that 10 central banks were meeting this week, with most expected to hold rates steady as Persian Gulf supply disruptions keep inflation pressure alive.
- Bank of England deputy governor Sarah Breeden warned that asset prices were at all-time highs even as risks from AI valuations, private credit and a macro shock remain unresolved.
- Qualcomm rallied in late trading after saying a top hyperscaler was on track to begin using its data-center components later this year.
- Meta reported strong first-quarter results, beating estimates on revenue and earnings, but its shares still sold off after the report.
Equities have had one powerful offset to the rate scare: AI revenue. Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft all reported double-digit cloud-computing gains, while four major tech companies have planned to spend $650bn in 2026 on AI infrastructure. That spending is now the number investors will keep marking against results, especially after Meta and Alphabet raised their capital-expenditure projections.
