MBS RECAP: Leveling Off In Pivotal Territory Ahead of NFP

By: Matthew Graham

Most every indication we've had from economic data in recent months has been that it just doesn't matter that much to bond markets.  Treasuries, especially, have been more content to take cues from European markets and EU QE prospects.  MBS have been content to make smaller versions of those same movements.

Today was no exception as Treasuries sold off fairly aggressively following a half-cocked asset purchase announcement by the European Central Bank (it was basically "too little, too soon").  MBS played their part by selling off less aggressively, and both leveled off at recent inflection points.  This is best seen as the mid 2.4 zone in 10yr yields which was about as low as Treasuries went in July and about as high as they went for most of August. 

The implication is that tomorrow's NFP could either motivate a healthy bounce, or prompt a break back above the mid 2.4 inflection point.  That brings us back to the notion of econ data being passed over in favor of European influences.  It could happen yet again tomorrow, but if there's one report that deserves the chance to buck the trend, it is of course NFP.


MBS Pricing Snapshot
Pricing shown below is delayed, please note the timestamp at the bottom. Real time pricing is available via MBS Live.
MBS
FNMA 3.0
99-00 : -0-08
FNMA 3.5
102-20 : -0-05
FNMA 4.0
105-26 : -0-03
Treasuries
2 YR
0.5360 : +0.0120
10 YR
2.4530 : +0.0430
30 YR
3.2100 : +0.0540
Pricing as of 9/4/14 5:03PMEST

Today's Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
10:54AM  :  ALERT ISSUED: Negative Reprice Risk Depends on the Lender
9:57AM  :  Bond Markets Weaker After Volatile Morning

MBS Live Chat Highlights
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Thomas Counsell  :  "My gut feeling is we get a number higher than 225k. Agree with JA on lock/float down comment"
Jason Anker  :  "just about always locked up prior to NFP, can float down if its a miss"
Moshe Berg  :  "people locking or floating thru tomorrow? feel?"
Matthew Graham  :  "moving averages are like the lines on the side of the road. Things get more interesting when they're broken, but in and of themselves, they won't keep your car on the road."
Brian Wiechman  :  "does the 50 day moving average act as first ceiling of resistance on 10 year? we there..."