Monday 11/10…Look at the Week Ahead

This week will be slow as far as economic reports. The only relevant reports will be released on Thursday and Friday. Thursday we will get the weekly release of jobless claims which are expected to show 480,000 claims and we also get the balance of trade which is expected to show a -$56.8b after last months -$59.1b reading. Friday we get retail sales which are expected to show a decline of -1.2%, when excluding auto it is expected to show a decline of -.9%. We also will get on Friday Consumer sentiment which is expected to come in at 57.0.

The mortgage backed securities have opened lower today driving mortgage rates higher. After the huge rally we got early last week, it appears we are going to retrace some causing mortgage rates to increase slightly. The Treasury Department has several auctions this week which will add supply of debt to the markets which could prevent any advance to mbs.

Today, the bond market closes early and will be closed tomorrow in observance of Veterans Day.