We've been talking about the lack of passion, news, and trading activity over the past few days, but as of this morning, we'd only really seen rates moving higher inside a narrow range. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Rates moved quickly lower and MBS have rallied nicely since just after 9am. The only problem? Everything continues to occur in the micro-range (denoted by 2.34-2.40 in 10yr yields).
While that's not necessarily a problem in the conventional sense of the word, it doesn't allow us to draw any conclusions about momentum. In other words, today might look pretty decent on a 2-day chart, but over the longer term, the last 2 days look like this:
In terms of specifics, market motivations are hard to pin down. First off, I'm not sure it really matters when we're in such a narrow range. But beyond that, if I had to pick, I'd note the stark absence of US Dollar-based corporate debt issuance today compared to yesterday. It's really been the only game in town--having hurt us yesterday and now playing the opposite role today. At this very moment, 10yr yields are right on the lower bound of the micro-range.
MBS | FNMA 3.0 99-22 : +0-08 | FNMA 3.5 103-03 : +0-06 | FNMA 4.0 105-30 : +0-05 |
Treasuries | 2 YR 0.6820 : -0.0280 | 10 YR 2.3450 : -0.0350 | 30 YR 3.0870 : -0.0190 |
Pricing as of 7/21/15 12:41PMEST |