Tricky Day... Mortgage Rates Fall Significantly, But Not Because of The Fed

There's a distinct risk that, even in the financial community, that people will look back on today's drop in interest rates and conclude it must have something to do with the Federal Reserve's latest policy announcement.  After all the Fed did cut its policy rate by 0.25% today, and the Fed was the only big ticket event on the calendar. Unfortunately, almost all of the improvement in rates was in place well before the Fed announcement was released.  This isn't a case of financial markets moving into position for an expected outcome either.  The Fed's cut was 100% expected, and Fed Chair Powell had nothing too surprising to say (even if the delivery was memorable when he was asked if he'd resign if asked by the president). So why did bonds/rates improve so much? We have to apply th