Many Mortgage Stocks Drop Thursday, but Five Eke Out Gains

The majority of mortgage-related stocks declined on Thursday, but at least five managed to end the day with gains.

Builder KB Home once again fared the best. Both that company and mortgage insurer MGIC generated gains of more than 1% on the day. MGIC's gain came in the wake of its fourth quarter earnings report which showed it has decreased the size of the quarterly loss it has been taking. Its results were slightly ahead of some estimates, according to Yahoo Finance.

Ellie Mae, PennyMac and OceanFirst Financial Corp. also gained on the day.

The greatest loss any stock in this publication's Mortgage Industry Equity Composite took on Thursday was less than 3% and closer to 2%. The overall Dow was down on the day just slightly over 1%.

A $100 investment in MIEC stocks on Jan. 1, 1998 based on week-to-week gains continues to be worth a little over $39, according to this publication’s MortgageStats subsidiary. The index’s general trend was stable to slightly higher through most of 2013, but since December it has drifted a bit lower.