Today there are no economic reports being released. We did receive the weekly survey for mortgage refinancing which showed a slight drop in activity but this will have no impact on mortgage backed securities.
Later today we do get a Treasury auction of 3 year treasuries. The added supply of debt on the market could have a negative effect but the auction yesterday was received very well by investors and didn’t adversely affect mbs.
So far this morning, mortgage backed securities are down a little from yesterday’s close but we should see very similar rates today. Later today we will get the Treasury Budget. This usually has no affect on mbs but today might be a little different as this will include information on mbs purchases by the treasury. So we will have to pay attention to this report at 2pm eastern.
As for lock/float….If you didn’t lock short term deals yesterday after the lenders repriced to the better, then you are clear to float right now as the down opening will already be priced into the rate sheets you get this morning. If we see a big rally in the stock market, that could pull money out of mbs, so keep an eye on the dow. There is some talk that the auto bailout might be passed today, which could spark a rally in the markets at our expense. In a sign of how odd our current market is, yesterday treasuries for a short period of time had a negative return. This means that investors were willing to buy a treasury for $100 but only get back $99.99. This shows investors unwillingness to take on risk, they would rather park their money knowing that they won’t lose more if invested elsewhere. We are in strange times indeed.