MBS RECAP: Waiting on The Fed is the Only Game in Town

By: Matthew Graham

It was a tediously calm Monday for bond markets, with one or two exceptions.  The first would be that the overnight trading session did see a moderately strong trend as global equities and bond yields moved lower.  That resulted in Treasuries and MBS putting in their best levels early in the morning.  From there they drifted sideways to slightly weaker, but MBS never threatened to move into negative territory on the day.

Treasuries were a slightly different story, and herein lies the second potential 'exception' to the calm Monday theme.  There was a noticeable spike in Treasury yields beginning just before 2pm.  The only available scapegoat was a decently-sized corporate issuance from Disney.  In fact, the launch of the deal coincided perfectly with the move in Treasuries, suggesting that the interest rate exposure was hedged with Treasury sales (or functionally equivalent trades).

In other words, Disney locked their rate.  Because corporate rates are indexed with Treasuries, firms can sell Treasuries to offset any fluctuations in rates from the time the deal is announced or launched  to the time it is finally priced and spoken-for by investors.  Once the corporate deal is priced, the Treasuries that were sold to lock the rate are often bought back.

Even after all that, 10yr yields only nudged into negative territory for a split second before they, too, opted to hold the range. 


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
100-17 : +0-03
FNMA 3.5
103-22 : +0-02
FNMA 4.0
106-10 : +0-02
Treasuries
2 YR
0.7300 : +0.0210
10 YR
2.1831 : -0.0035
30 YR
2.9547 : +0.0031
Pricing as of 9/14/15 5:22PMEST

Today's Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
2:02PM  :  ALERT ISSUED: Negative Reprices Increasingly Possible
11:22AM  :  ALERT ISSUED: Negative Reprice Risk Increasing
9:57AM  :  Off to a Modestly Stronger Start; Still Very Range-Bound

MBS Live Chat Highlights
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "in summary, winter is coming regardless of what the Fed does."
Matthew Graham  :  "the war is coming regardless of their actions now"
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "MG, you talk about the "war that's coming." Won't the Fed look like they hastened the first shots by raising rates?"
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "what is it about? credibility?"
Matthew Graham  :  "it's not about monetary policy any more"
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "seems like a lame reason to conduct monetary policy"
Sung Kim  :  "they missed their opportunity to hike earlier this year, now they are backed in to a corner"
Matthew Graham  :  "if they don't hike, they send a message on the weakness of the economy, etc. "things are bad enough that we can't hike, in spite of all our rhetoric to the contrary.""
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "MG, why "should" the Fed hike now?"
John Paul Mulchay  :  "I like the rip-off-the-band-aid approach. Waiting (uncertainty) is problematic for all sides."
Sung Kim  :  "100% yes"
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "based on past few Fed decisions, does the Fed have economic data to justify their desire to raise rates?"
Matthew Graham  :  "they have to hike now. Or they should, rather. If they don't, it would be even worse for stocks. "
Victor Burek  :  "50/50"
Sung Kim  :  "i sure hope so"
Andy Pada, Jr.  :  "just for fun: will the Fed raise rates this week?"
Sung Kim  :  "i believe the new handbook provides certainty on how to handle Justin - i dont think it 100% aligns"
Justin Bayle  :  "anyone know if FHA followed Fannie on the 2106 expenses recent change?"
Kevin Danforth  :  "wendy watch your overlays, regardless of LP most we sell to still require 2 years. Check US Bank as they tend to be mostly straight off LP"
Wendy Smith  :  "Anyone know of any lenders using only 1 year tax return on self-employed?"