Bond markets were slightly stronger again overnight but in the context of the past few weeks, we're essentially flat for the past 3 days. This consolidative 'leveling-off' was reinforced mid-morning as bond markets shied away from making any sudden movements ahead of this afternoon's big-ticket events.
Long story short, bond markets are playing it safe. The 'coarse adjustments' to trading positions were already made by the end of last week and everything since then has amounted to rather inconsequential 'fine-tuning.'
Today, "playing it safe" means the morning strength was greeted with weakness that brought trading levels right to the center of yesterday's trading range. Trading levels are still in slightly positive territory day-over-day, but this has a lot to do with the fact that yesterday closed at its weakest levels. Nothing that happens between now and 2pm is remotely important compared to what might happen after 2pm.
MBS | FNMA 3.0 97-29 : +0-04 | FNMA 3.5 101-22 : +0-03 | FNMA 4.0 104-32 : +0-02 |
Treasuries | 2 YR 0.5360 : +0.0000 | 10 YR 2.5720 : -0.0170 | 30 YR 3.3380 : -0.0160 |
Pricing as of 9/17/14 12:35PMEST |