MORTGAGE MÉLANGE Volatile Rates Create a Cornucopia of Options BY JIM REBER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ICBA SECURITIES Endorsed Partner I’m going out on a limb here, but one day, mortgage rates will not only quit rising; they will actually begin to fall. When that happens, community bank bond portfolio managers will have to deal with a host of factors (most of them positive) they haven’t seen in a while, if ever. The sheer scale of the Fed’s tightening has produced a number of mortgagebacked securities (MBS) that appear to be custom-built for a flat or falling rate environment. So, just in time for Thanksgiving, let’s take a stroll around the MBS supermarket to see what’s on your favorite brokers’ shelves. Crowd Pleasers This column will focus on 15-year MBS and alternatives, as those are clearly the 6 In Touch
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