Just like the last major policy communication from the Fed, yesterday's FOMC Announcement served not so much to "change the game" but instead to more clearly define the the rules.  In this game, it's becoming increasingly clear that domestic economic data continues to be closely watched, and if it's "bad enough," then the FOMC will "do more than merely extend an already existing program by a nominal amount which is also in line with market consensus." 

Whew!  Those were a lot of words to put inside the quotation marks of an if/then statement.  But at least we took fewer words and less of your time to communicate what was basically the gist of yesterday's Announcement, Forecasts, and Press Conference!  Okay... so the Fed may have offered a few more words, but in true Bruce Campbell fashion, maybe we didn't say say every single tiny little syllable, but basically we said 'em, yeah.

Given that the Fed essentially "saved" whatever further policy tools they're planning on using and instead opted for a known quantity, it puts the onus back on markets to try to "guess" (for lack of a better term) not only "how bad" the economic outlook must get before additional action is warranted, but also at the very nature of the future mystery stimulus.  Sounds like more volatility to us.

At least we're pressing onward from yesterday's FOMC communications with a relatively docile data set today.  Apart from the standard weekly Jobless claims, we'll get the Philly Fed index at 10am along with Leading Indicators, Monthly Home Prices, and Existing Home Sales.  You can pretty much scratch the last three off the list of potential market movers, even if two of them are interesting to mortgage markets.  Philly Fed is the biggie, and considering Bernanke was clear enough in saying the Fed's eye is on *all* employment data, we'll definitely pay attention to how markets react to the employment component of the Philly survey to see if he's taken at his word.