Mortgage rates continued to climb higher last week, causing both current homeowners and potential homebuyers to retreat from the market, especially first-time buyers. Total mortgage application volume fell 4.4% compared with the week before, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, increased to 6.45% from 6.37%, with points rising to 0.66 from 0.61, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.

“The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to push rates higher. Mortgage rates last week increased to their highest level in a month,” said Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA, in a release.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home dropped 4% for the week and were just 5% higher than the same week one year ago. The spring housing market has been a bumpy one, starting out very slowly when rates rose sharply in March. It seemed to be picking up recently, as rates fell back and more supply came on the market, but buyers again are struggling with affordability.

“The average loan size on a purchase application increased to $467,300, the highest in the survey’s history dating back to 1990. This increase could indicate that potential first-time buyers, and buyers looking for homes at lower price points, might be the most hesitant to move forward given the economic uncertainty and higher rates,” said Kan.

Applications to refinance a home loan fell the hardest, down 5% for the week. Demand was still 29% higher than the same week one year ago, but that annual comparison has been shrinking. The 30-year fixed rate was just 39 basis points higher at this time last year. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 42% of total applications, the lowest since August 2025.

Mortgage rates moved even higher to start this week, according to a separate survey from Mortgage News Daily. The next big move could come Friday, following the release of the government’s monthly employment report.

BYD‘s passenger vehicle sales fell for an eighth consecutive month in April, while its domestic rivals Leapmotor and Zeekr notched record-high monthly deliveries as the market becomes more competitive.

BYD reported Sunday that it delivered 314,100 new energy passenger vehicles last month — comprising battery electric and plug-in hybrid models — a 15.7% decline from the year before but up 6.2% from March, CNBC’s records show.

Export figures for BYD rose to an all-time high of 135,098, according to a Hong Kong Stock Exchange filing — a record, and up more than 70% compared to the same period in 2025, according to CNBC’s calculations. The split in the Shenzhen-headquartered automaker’s domestic and overseas fortunes underscores its growing reliance on overseas markets amid intensifying competition at home.

In April, the market-leading EV giant reported a nearly 55.4% drop in profits year over year in the first quarter as operating revenue fell 11.8% to 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) amid strong showings from its domestic rivals in the same quarter.

Second-place Chinese EV maker Leapmotor posted its highest-ever number of monthly deliveries in April, with 71,387 units, up 73.9% over the same period in 2025. The Stellantis-backed company logged its previous monthly high in November 2025 and turned its first annual profit last year.

Geely‘s premium EV brand Zeekr also notched a fresh high in monthly sales with 31,787 units, representing a 131.6% year on year increase.

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi posted more than 30,000 EV deliveries in April, a more than 7.1% increase from the same period a year ago. The company has also reportedly received over 70,000 pre-orders of its upgraded SU7 sedan.

Nio delivered 29,356 EVs in April, up by 22.8% from the same period a year before. This figure includes sales from its lower-priced Onvo and Firefly brands.

April deliveries from startup Li Auto held steady at 34,085 units, up 0.4% from the same period the prior year.

Following the launch of its new GX SUV in the middle of the month, Xpeng posted a year-on-year sales decline — apart from BYD, the only other automaker to have reported a drop in year-on-year sales — with 31,011 deliveries, an 11.5% fall from the year before.

With plans to export more than one million units in 2026, BYD has increasingly asserted itself abroad.

The company accounted for at least 70% of EV sales in Mexico and 75% of Argentina’s EV sales in 2025, according to estimates from consultancy Latam Mobility.

New registrations of BYD’s passenger EVs across the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, and the U.K. rose by more than 155% year-on-year over the first quarter of 2026, according to figures from the European…

This report is from this week’s The Tech Download newsletter. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

After a month or so in the doldrums as investors rode a wave of anxiety about the AI buildout, chip stocks have hit a real purple patch again in April.

In March, Nasdaq’s PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index — comprising the 30 largest U.S.-traded chip companies — saw a 6.3% decrease. Last month, the narrative reversed, with the index soaring 35.2% since the start of April as of market close Wednesday as investors ploughed into the sector. 

Intel has been one of the standouts. The company had its best day since 1987 last Friday, on the back of earnings that topped estimates and issued upbeat guidance. Nvidia’s market cap breached the $5 trillion mark ahead of its earnings, and Apple‘s stock rose Thursday after it posted revenue growth for the most recent quarter that beat estimates and its guidance was better than expected.

Many U.S. chip darlings, including AMD and Micron, have also surged, as have a number of Europe’s leading semiconductor companies. 

“The semiconductor tape we have seen this month is nothing short of historic,” Bruce Bateman, chief analyst at Omdia, told me. “We are talking about winning streaks not seen since the 1970s.”

The rally in semiconductor stocks over the past month reflects a combination of renewed confidence in the AI infrastructure cycle, stronger earnings commentary and the sense that demand is broadening “beyond just a few obvious AI winners,” said David Miller, senior portfolio manager at Catalyst Funds.

In the U.S., sentiment is supported by the belief that AI demand is turning into real revenue growth, leading to higher earnings estimates, Miller told me. 

Concerns over hyperscalers massive AI spending plans announced at the start of 2026 saw a $1 trillion selloff in February, but investors have steadied their resolve in recent weeks.

“Continued positive news flow and earnings results from the AI infrastructure players has allowed investors to get a better level of comfort with the size of the capital expenditures taking place, which has led to sentiment turning positive,” said Michael Field, chief equity strategist at Morningstar.

Some of the surge is related to the Iran war, Bob Savage, head of markets macro strategy at BNY told me, as chip orders have increased in anticipation of supply chain disruptions.

But, while the market is pricing a “clean narrative” of growth, it’s “overlooking a massive wall of physical reality,” Bateman told me.

The Iran war has also created critical bottlenecks, which are hitting the core of chipmaking, he added. 

Exports of helium, a key material in chipmaking and other manufacturing processes, have already been significantly curtailed by the fighting, and some European companies have faced delays to semiconductor…

Mortgage rates moved even higher again last week, as the war with Iran continues to stoke fears of inflation. As a result, total mortgage application volume fell again, down 10.4% from the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, increased to 6.57% from 6.43%, with points remaining unchanged at 0.65, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.

Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly interest rate moves, dropped 17% for the week and were 33% higher than the same week one year ago. Earlier this year, when rates were lower, refinance demand was more than twice what it was the year before.

“The 30-year mortgage rate, now at 6.57%, reached its highest level since last August and is up half a percentage point from just one month ago,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s chief economist, in a release. “Refinance application volumes declined sharply again last week, and are down more than 40% compared to last month.”

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home dropped 3% for the week and were just 1% higher than the same week one year ago. The spring housing market, traditionally the busiest of the year, is well underway. While it was forecast to be stronger than last year’s, the war is weighing on affordability and stoking fears over the direction of the overall economy.

“Purchase applications for FHA and VA loans continue to hold up better than those for conventional buyers. However, the shocks of the jump in rates and the increase in overall economic uncertainty are likely having an impact on buyer confidence,” said Fratantoni.

Mortgage rates came down pretty sharply to start this week, according to a separate measure from Mortgage News Daily, as markets digested a potential de-escalation in the Iran war. They are, however, still elevated compared with before the war.

“This marks the best 2 days of improvement since the war began, but the caveat is that the larger movements are often seen after rates hit longer-term highs,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at Mortgage News Daily.

Gold edged higher on Tuesday morning, but the metal remained on course to notch its biggest monthly decline in almost 17 years.

By 3:30 a.m. ET, U.S. spot gold was trading around 1% higher at $ 4,553.69 per ounce. Front-month gold futures were up by 0.6% to settle at around $4,553.

The gains came amid lingering uncertainty over the trajectory of the U.S.-Iran war, which has entered its fifth week.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday evening that U.S. President Donald Trump told aides he was willing to end military hostilities against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed.

Trump said in Truth Social post that Washington was “in serious discussions” with Iranian officials, but added that if a deal was not reached soon U.S. forces would attack electricity plants, oil wells and the critical Kharg Island.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al Jazeera in an interview published Monday that Washington’s objectives in Iran would take “weeks, not months” to achieve.

Reuters reported that 2,500 U.S. Marines had arrived in the Middle East over the weekend, with unnamed officials telling the news agency the deployed troops were from the elite 82nd Airborne Division.

The conflict in the Middle East has weighed on gold prices, with surging oil and gas prices raising expectations of an inflation spike across economies that will lead to a bout of interest rate hikes.

Spot prices are now on track for a monthly decline of 14.6%, which would mark the metal’s biggest monthly drop since Oct. 2008, when prices fell 16.8%.

Wayne Nutland, Investment Manager at Shackleton Advisers, told CNBC on Tuesday that the past four years have changed the way gold is traded.

“Prior to the Ukraine war, the gold price tended to be inversely correlated to real bond yields and the US dollar, with the gold price rising when those metrics fell, and gold falling when those metrics rose,” he said.

“The period after the Ukraine war upended these relationships, in particular in 2025 and into early 2026 when gold rose very strongly, far in excess of the moves suggested by those historic relationships.”

Nutland added that in the wake of the Iran war, gold had reverted to its more traditional relationships.

“Bond yields and the U.S. dollar have both moved higher, and against this backdrop gold has demonstrated its traditional inverse sensitivity to these metrics, falling as a result,” he said. “Gold’s declines have perhaps also been exacerbated by the strength of the gold price going into 2026 and possibly a desire amongst investors to liquidate profitable positions.”

Iain Barnes, chief investment officer at Netwealth, said the price volatility of gold has been…

President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. has asked to delay his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing by “a month or so” due to the ongoing war with Iran.

Trump was expected to travel to China at the end of March for the meeting with Xi.

But when asked in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon if that trip was still on, Trump said, “I don’t know, we’re working on that right now.”

“We’re speaking to China. I’d love to, but because of the war, I want to be here. I have to be here, I feel,” Trump said.

“And so, we’ve requested that we delay it a month or so,” Trump said.

“I’m looking forward to being with him. We have a very good relationship,” he said.

“There’s no tricks to it either,” he added. “It’s very simple. We’ve got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here.”

Top Trump administration officials, including Trump himself, had earlier telegraphed that the Iran war could disrupt plans for the high-profile summit in China.

Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that China — a top buyer of Iranian oil exports that has come out against the war — should help the U.S. break Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global energy corridor.

Waiting to do so until after the summit would be too late, he told the outlet.

Treasury Scott Bessent later appeared to soften those remarks, telling CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday morning that any rescheduling of the summit would be for logistical reasons.

“It wouldn’t be delayed because the president demanded that China police the Strait of Hormuz,” Bessent said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News later Monday morning that it’s “quite possible” that the meeting could be delayed.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

Eli Lilly on Monday launched a new form of its blockbuster obesity drug, Zepbound, that offers a month’s worth of doses in a single pen.

Cash-paying patients can get the multi-dose device, called KwikPen, on the company’s direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect. Prices start at $299 per month for the lowest dose level. 

The pen could serve as a more convenient option for some patients, as it reduces the number of devices they have to use in a month to take the drug. Patients can use one pen to take four weekly doses of Zepbound. 

Currently, patients on the treatment use a different single-dose auto-injector device each week. Lilly also offers single-dose vials of Zepbound, which require users to draw the medication into a syringe and inject themselves. 

The announcement comes as Lilly works to sustain the early success of Zepbound, which has exploded in demand since it first entered the market in late 2023. LillyDirect has been key to Zepbound’s growth, and rolling out a new form of the drug on the platform could attract even more patients. 

The torrid growth of Zepbound has helped Eli Lilly seize a majority share of the weight loss drug market from rival Novo Nordisk. In the company’s fourth quarter, Zepbound brought in $4.2 billion in U.S. revenue, a 122% spike from the previous year.

In a release, Lilly said the Food and Drug Administration approved a label expansion for Zepbound to include the multi-dose device.

The KwikPen is already used for other drugs, such as Lilly’s popular diabetes medication, Mounjaro. 

“As part of our commitment to supporting people living with obesity in their weight management journey, we are introducing a new option with the Zepbound KwikPen, a device trusted by patients globally and in the United States for other Lilly medicines,” said Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA and Global Customer Capabilities, in the release. 

Mortgage interest rates dropped last week to the lowest level in a month, prompting more current borrowers to seek savings in a refinance. While lower rates didn’t give potential buyers much incentive, the run on refinances was enough to push total mortgage demand 2.8% higher compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, decreased to 6.17% from 6.21%, with points remaining unchanged at 0.56, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment.

“Treasury yields ended the week lower as weaker data on retail sales and home sales outweighed better-than-expected readings on the job market for January,” said Joel Kan, vice president and deputy chief economist at the MBA, in a release.

As a result, applications to refinance a home loan rose 7% for the week and were 132% higher than the same week one year ago. Last year, rates were 76 basis points higher. While that annual jump may seem large, refinancing was at extremely low levels at this time last year.

“Refinance applications increased across all loan types, marking the strongest week for refinancing since mid-January,” Kan added.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home dropped 3% for the week and were just 8% higher than the same week one year ago. While lower mortgage rates are making homes slightly more affordable, new supply is not coming onto the market fast enough, and concern over the broader economy has consumers sitting on the sidelines.

Mortgage rates didn’t move at all to start this holiday-shortened week, but economic data set for release this week could impact the current trajectory. In general, however, mortgage rates have been hovering in a pretty narrow range, between 6% and 6.25%, since the start of this year.

Mortgage rates rose for the third consecutive week, causing demand from both current homeowners and potential homebuyers to drop. Total mortgage application volume fell 5.2% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association‘s seasonally adjusted index.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $806,500 or less, increased last week to 6.37% from 6.34%, with points remaining unchanged at 0.62, including the origination fee, for loans with a 20% down payment. That is the highest level in four weeks.

Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to short-term moves in rates, fell 7% for the week but were still 125% higher than the same week one year ago. Last year at this time, mortgage rates were about a half a percentage point higher, and refinance volume was unusually low. The large increase from a year ago is more a factor of the very small volumes overall.

Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home fell 2% for the week and were 26% higher than the same week one year ago. Purchase demand has hovered around the same level for several months, regardless of interest rate moves.

“Application activity over the week was lower, with potential homebuyers moving to the sidelines again, although there was a small increase in FHA purchase applications,” noted Joel Kan, an MBA analyst, in the release.

The overall average loan size across both purchase and refinance applications fell to its lowest level since August of this year, driven by another drop in the adjustable-rate mortgage share, according to Kan.

Mortgage rates have not moved at all to start this week, looking at a separate survey from Mortgage News Daily.

“With only a few exceptions, bonds have been a rudderless ship during the government shutdown. With the backlogged data returning in a slow and uncertain fashion, rudder repairs are similarly slow,” wrote Matthew Graham, chief operating officer at MND. “The surprise release of stale jobless claims data did nothing to inspire and there was limited benefit from another negative print in the weekly ADP numbers.” 

China’s central bank kept its loan prime rates steady on Monday, even as the world’s second largest economy has seen weak economic data and an extended slump in its property sector.

The People’s Bank of China kept its 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates unchanged at 3% and 3.5% respectively, holding them for a seventh straight meeting, in line with a Reuters survey.

The 1-year rate acts as a benchmark for new loans, while the 5-year helps peg mortgage rates.

The PBOC’s decision comes amid downbeat economic data from China in November, including lower-than-expected retail sales and industrial output.

Retail sales rose 1.3% last month from a year earlier, sharply missing Reuters’ median forecast for a 2.8% growth, and slowing from 2.9% rise in the prior month.

Industrial production also missed expectations, climbing 4.8% in November from a year earlier compared with estimates for a 5% jump, and marking its weakest growth since August 2024.

China continues to reel from a protracted slump in its real estate sector. Investment in fixed assets, which includes property, contracted 2.6% over the January through November period compared with a year earlier, sharper than the 2.3% drop estimated by economists.

Prices of new homes also also continued to decline in November, showing persistent weakness in China’s property sector.

New home prices fell 1.2% in tier-1 cities including Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen while resale home prices dropped 5.8% from a year earlier.

Earlier this month, China’s finance ministry said it planned to issue ultra-long-term special government bonds next year to fund construction of key projects and new infrastructure projects.

The country has been contending with deflationary pressures, and policymakers have vowed to “vigorously support the implementation of special actions to boost consumption.”

An interim trade deal with the Washington that saw a suspension of prohibitive levels of tariffs on Chinese exports, however, could boost shipments to the U.S. and help the country realize its “around 5%” economic growth target for 2025.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 index was up 0.43% on Monday. The onshore yuan was flat at 7.04 against the dollar, while the offshore yuan weakened marginally to trade at 7.03 against the greenback.

— CNBC’s Anniek Bao contributed to this report.