Looking at charts, we might well conclude that bond market trading remains uneventful.  This wouldn't be a surprise, after all, considering the heretofore theme of 'summer doldrums' over the past week.  But developments behind the scenes make the flatness more meaningful.

The most noticeable development isn't actually behind the scenes.  In fact, it's rather hard to miss today.  Headlines abound regarding the "strongest Existing Home Sales in 8 years" and "record high home prices."  Not only that, but the data came in stronger than expected--a fact that typically is net-negative for bond prices.  Despite that, bonds prices held their ground and improved after the data. There was also pressure from 'behind-the-scenes' factors surrounding another uptick in corporate debt issuance (which generally pushes rates higher).

In this sense, the flatness see in the day-over-day change is a bigger victory than yesterday's tradeflow-driven improvements.  Simply put, we're holding our ground despite fundamentals (existing sales) and supply/demand technicals (corporate issuance) suggesting weakness.  By comparison, yesterday's strength was more serendipitous and less meaningful. 

Gains have been ebbing into the afternoon, but for now, MBS and Treasuries are still in modestly positive territory.


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
99-26 : +0-02
FNMA 3.5
103-06 : +0-01
FNMA 4.0
106-01 : +0-03
Treasuries
2 YR
0.7060 : +0.0240
10 YR
2.3240 : -0.0070
30 YR
3.0430 : -0.0240
Pricing as of 7/22/15 1:23PMEST

Morning Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
10:32AM  :  Holding Modest Gains Despite Stronger Data

Live Chat Featured Comments
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Sung Kim  :  "seems pretty bullish that we didn't lose another 2-3bps"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS- U.S. NAR SAYS 8 PCT OF U.S. JUNE EXISTING HOME SALES WERE DISTRESSED VERSUS 10 PCT IN MAY"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS - U.S. JUNE NATIONAL MEDIAN HOME PRICE FOR EXISTING HOMES $236,400, +6.5 PCT FROM JUNE 2014"
Matthew Graham  :  "9yr high"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS- U.S. JUNE EXISTING HOME SALES 5.49 MLN UNIT RATE (CONSENSUS 5.40 MLN), VS MAY 5.32 MLN (PREV 5.35 MLN)-NAR"
Matthew Graham  :  "that's the reason for the spike right now. Traders know it will be big, thus creating big supply in bond markets."
Sung Kim  :  "oh, thats what just whacked us"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS - INTEL ANNOUNCES FOUR-PART US DOLLAR BOND TO FINANCE ACQUISITION OF ALTERA"
Matthew Graham  :  "probably 2.292 - high volume intraday low at the end of June, and a pivot against May's highs."
Victor Burek  :  "mg..what is next key level on 10yr?"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS- FREDDIE MAC - EXPECT HOUSING STARTS TO INCREASE 14 PERCENT AND SINGLE-FAMILY MORTGAGE ORIGINATIONS TO INCREASE 8 PERCENT FOR 2015"