The Day Ahead: Interest Rates and Stock Futures Lower to Start Session

Equity futures and benchmark interest rates are both moderately lower this morning ahead of a light day with no significant data.

Global stocks fell as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned of a new era of joblessness. It said “with many unemployed experiencing long periods of joblessness, the risk that the sharp increase in cyclical unemployment will become structural in nature is rising”.

OECD countries need to create 17 million jobs to get employment levels back to where they were before the crisis, according to the OECD’s Employment Outlook 2010 .

Ninety minutes before the opening bell, Dow futures are down 19 points to 9,663 and S&P 500 futures are down 3.50 points to 1,020.75.

The 2-year Treasury note yield is 1.6 basis points lower at 0.605% and the benchmark 10-year note yield has fallen a modest 1.3 basis points to 2.921%. 

The August delivery Fannie Mae 4.0 MBS coupon is bid 6 ticks higher at 101-14 and the August Fannie Mae 4.5 MBS coupon is +0-03 at 103-21.

Key Events Today:

Wednesday:

3:30 ― Narayan Kocherlakota, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, speaks on taxing risk at the Society for Economic Dynamic meeting in Montreal.

7:15 ― Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve, speaks to Hampton Roads business leaders in Norfolk, Virginia.