MBS RECAP: MBS Outperform Treasuries; Lenders Remain Cautious; Still in the Game

Most days with modest gains in MBS would see similarly modest improvements in rate sheets.  While there were a handful of positive reprices in the afternoon, they were working against very conservative morning pricing, leaving rates slightly higher day-over-day. 

In that light, the mild weakness in rate sheets it reflected fairly well by the mild weakness in Treasuries.  10yr yields caught their footing after European equities markets closed and drifted sideways just under 2.20.  This is right in line with Tuesday afternoon's levels which seemed pretty stellar at the time, but are a bit anticlimactic after a foray into the 1's on Wednesday.

As noted in the morning commentary, we usually have to wait a few more days before seeing which direction bond markets will head after this sort of disruptive movement.  While it might feel like a step in the wrong direction to have lost ground from Wednesday, it's worth something that we're ending the week in much stronger territory than we ended last week.  It's also the 5th consecutive week where 10yr yields have closed at lower yields than the previous week--something we haven't seen since January 2014.   Even if we were to weaken further from here, we're not even remotely close to challenging the existing long-term positive trend in rates.  Still in the game...