With Washington “closed until further notice,” bond markets are left scavenging for clues in private-sector data. First out of the gate was Wednesday's ADP payroll report. And let’s just say, if this were a movie, critics would be walking out at intermission.

The U.S. government has shut down, but markets saw it coming. So far, the fallout is minimal, with U.S. bond futures little changed at 5:30 am ET Wednesday.

If the impasse drags on, effects could range from the Fed having less data to make rate decisions to widespread bond volatility.

Interestingly, as Washington closes shop, politicians don't get furloughed. After all, you can't get laid off from a job you weren't doing in the first place.

Mortgage originators can stand out for any number of reasons, but in today’s hyper-digital, cutthroat market, the dividing line between remembered and forgotten is often mortgage technology.

Lenders and brokers know that client satisfaction is non-negotiable, so they leverage a menu of software to enhance it:

• Mortgage selection tools
• Smart applications
• Calculators
• Meeting software
• Document managers
• Mortgage strategy apps
• Automatic conditional approvals
• Deal status trackers
• Next-gen websites
• 24-hour chatbots
• Landing pages
• Educational features
• And many others... (Read on for practical examples.)

Thriving in the next decade will hinge more and more on wielding innovative technology. We're talking tech that makes your rivals look like they’re still faxing approvals—tech that:

1. Draws leads to your site like a Black Friday doorbuster
2. Generates referrals without awkward arm-twisting
3. Keeps existing clients loyal
4. Is exclusive (because you created it yourself)

Here's the snag

The catch with technology development is that it devours time, drains budgets and requires the patience of Michelangelo.

Or at least, it did.

What I’m about to show you is the single most potent invention in software development this millennium. Full stop. It may prove more transformative than Git/Github, mobile apps, and cloud computing combined.

Why? Because it can combine all those things. More importantly, it enables average people to build what once required developers with years of technical experience.

It's not hyperbole to say vibe coding is destined to change the world of mortgage tech development forever, and that has dramatic implications for mortgage originators. Here’s a glimpse of what that means.

Yields escalated modestly by last week’s finish as the U.S. once again played the overachiever. Data showed its economy holding up better than expected, which partly explains why North American credit spreads (the extra compensation investors demand for holding non-government bonds) fell to historically tight levels. That's an incremental positive for mortgage discounts.

Mortgage brokers have no shortage of headaches when it comes to documents. Files often entail a thick stack of documents, including:

• Down payment trails spanning multiple accounts
• Pay stubs that look like they were faxed in 1998
• Large unexplained deposits
• Partial, expired or missing documents or pages
• Missing account numbers, dates, job titles, names or addresses
• Incorrect years (e.g., for NOAs)
• Questionable screenshots
• Redactions
• Missing signatures

Worse yet, documents come in a myriad of formats and lenders like them all in one.

Purelend.ai promises to make that mess go away—for a price. At $16 per file, brokers are asking: Is it worth it?

U.S. core PCE inflation—the Fed’s favourite inflation tracker—rose 0.23% in August, keeping the annual pace at 2.9%. The three-month run rate is also parked at 2.9%, high above the Fed’s 2% goal, which now looks about as realistic as my plan to jog before breakfast.

Canadian growth rolled a few feet forward in July before sputtering to a halt in August. Bay Street remains divided over what the Bank of Canada should do at October's rate meeting: call a tow truck with another 25 bps jump-start, or wait and see what high octane spending is in the November 4 budget.

Yields came back to life on Thursday as stronger-than-expected U.S. data and more central bank chatter raised chances that the Fed could skip a cut in October.