“Wet” January is going well for me. Wait… did I get that wrong? If food news is more to your liking, Krispy Kreme has rolled out donuts covered in Biscoff cookies through the end of January. More calories per bite, right? In other non-mortgage stories, the oldest person in the world has died at 118. Contrary to what LOs say, this photo is not her praying for stated income, stated asset loans to return with no consideration of credit. Speaking of which, the latest credit reporting news involving brokers comes from the UK. Layoffs aren’t happening only in residential lending, the latest example being 10,000 from Microsoft. (It had approximately 221,000 full-time employees globally as of June 30, 2022.) Yes, parts of the economy, especially high tech (how many new phones or laptops does one need?) are slowing. But in 2023 positive labor but slowing inflation and certain economic numbers, have sparked a rally in fixed-income prices, including securities backed by mortgages, and has eased a yield-curve inversion as investors become hopeful the Federal Reserve might become less aggressive in monetary tightening. (This week’s podcast is sponsored by Candor. Candor’s patented automated underwriting decision engine, CogniTech™, is a state-of-the-art, 100% machine platform that can handle infinite loan scenarios. Listen to an interview with Planet Home’s Chris Lewis and Nick DeJesus on the benefits of a retail branch origination model and a day in the life of a branch manager.)