Although we have just under an hour of trading left in the day, if MBS were to end right at current levels, January would be the strongest month of gains in over 2 years, beating out September 2013 by just half a tick.  Prices started the day in stronger territory today--a factor of overnight positivity in both Asia and Europe--and haven't moved outside an eighth of a point range.

The morning data was uneventful, coming in close to consensus on all accounts or otherwise having embedded counterpoints.  In other words, where the headline Chicago PMI was stronger than expected, the internal employment component was weaker.  Volumes stayed strong with good 'month-end' participation seen keeping Treasury yields contained, and providing an incidental boost for MBS.

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
97-11 : +0-13
FNMA 3.5
101-18 : +0-10
FNMA 4.0
104-26 : +0-08
Treasuries
2 YR
0.3356 : -0.0154
10 YR
2.6494 : -0.0456
30 YR
3.6036 : -0.0314
Pricing as of 1/31/14 4:17PMEST
Today's Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
3:15PM  :  Glut of Month-End Buying Helps Preserve High, Narrow Range
10:13AM  :  Bond Markets Little-Changed to Marginally Weaker After PMI and Sentiment Data
9:26AM  :  Bond Markets Hold Overnight Gains After Morning Data
MBS Live Chat Highlights
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Timothy Baron  :  "Kind of a reverse triangle pattern forming in 4.0s. Does that portend anything, MG?"
Matthew Graham  :  "i don't know, but I used to like to call those "expanding cones of death.""
Matthew Graham  :  "It's pretty incidental today. I'd focus more on the gentle uptrend we have going on in TSY yields."
Victor Burek  :  "10's trying to break that uptrend"
Victor Burek  :  "except it is a excellent day to lock"
Matt Hodges  :  "i agree victor - i've locked one and will lock 1-2 more"
Caroline Roy  :  "i vote for locking what you have for new loans today. "
Joseph Daquino  :  "I am locking some today, for sure."
Joshua Crater  :  "I'm definitely locking today"
Curt Sandfort  :  "FHA experts, can a 2nd FHA appraisal be used to dispute the value of an appraisal that is already logged?"
Timothy Baron  :  "No. Can only have one active FHA appraisal at a time."