As investors sift through the tea leaves of the bond market, the average daily trading volume in agency MBS increased 11% in July from the month prior. But where we go from here is anyone’s guess.

The bull market in debt offerings by mortgage-related vendors continues. The latest participant: ICE, which is buying Ellie Mae for a stunning $11 billion.

The Federal Reserve’s lending program is credited with helping the MBS and ABS sector even though investor demand is falling short of expectations.

The rating service its stepping away from rating new commercial MBS backed by single-borrower hotel loans due to uncertainty prompted by the coronavirus. Only one such deal has been issued since April.

The underlying pool includes prime unsecured consumer loans from Lend-ingClub that were selected using machine learning.

The GSE, however, hasn’t issued any new credit-risk transfer transaction since March and has no plans to for the rest of the year. Meaning?

A new 50-basis-point fee on GSE refis caught the mortgage industry off guard this week. A big deal or much ado about nothing? Either way, lenders are not happy.

Fannie so far has issued $122.23 billion in long-term notes in 2020. That’s almost six times more than in 2019 and more than it issued the past three years combined.

The HOPE Act seeks to create a liquidity facility for commercial MBS borrowers who weren’t eligible for PPP or MSLP. The bill suggests financial institutions originate Treasury-guaranteed preferred equity instruments to qualified borrowers.

The debt market has been a welcoming place for all sorts of issuers of late. The latest participant: MGIC Investment Corp.