Several housing stocks escape stock market rout

Some mortgage and housing stocks escaped the market's carnage on Friday, when investors sold off equities in the ongoing reaction to President Trump's broad-based tariff program

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday down by 2,231 points, following a 1,679-point drop on Thursday.

Instead, the money flowed into the bond market, with the 10-year treasury yield hitting a low of 3.86% at one point and ending the trading day at 3.99%. Since Monday, the 10-year yield is 26 basis points lower, which is good news for mortgage rates.

Zillow's rate tracker has the 30-year fixed rate mortgage down 7 basis points on the day to 6.64%; it was 17 basis points lower than last week's average.

Among the hardest hit were Freddie Mac, down over 12% to $4.61, along with Fannie Mae more than 8% lower to $5.60. Reverse mortgage lender Finance of America was also down big, off 10.46% to $19.30.

On the other hand, the big gainers of the day were Loandepot, up 16.8% to $1.46 per share, and Rocket. The Detroit-based lender likely got some tailwinds from its agreement to buy Mr. Cooper and ended the day 11.44% higher at $15.43.

Earlier this week, Keefe Bruyette & Woods analyst Bose George surmised that investors were bidding down Mr. Cooper, as they were anticipating potential regulatory opposition to the deal.

In his note, George gave a takeout price for Mr. Cooper at $143.33. But the highest post-transaction announcement price was $137.60 on Wednesday.

On Friday, it closed at $134.20, crawling out of the red at the end of the trading day to be up 0.83%.

Other housing stocks which ended the day higher were KB Home, Lennar, Blend Labs, Pennymac Financial Services and Better.

UWM Holdings, which on a pro forma basis remains as the No. 1 lender even after Rocket acquires Mr. Cooper and Redfin, closed 0.45% lower, however, at $5.53.

Most mortgage and title insurers were all down in the same percentage range: Stewart was down 3.5%; Essent, just under 4%; Radian 4.5%; First American, 4.8%; Enact 4.9%; and MGIC, also down 4.9%.

NMI Holdings, however, was off 5.7% and Fidelity National, down 6.5%. The two firms that operate in multiple lines were down even more: Old Republic, 7.8% lower and Arch was down 8.8%.