For the 4th consecutive day, bond market trading was exceptionally calm overnight with Treasury yields continuing to hold the same recent range.  The first and only significant data of the day was Jobless Claims.  It came in at the lowest levels since 1973!

One would think this would be bad for bond markets.  After all, not only was it a 42 year low, but it also beat the forecast by 25k.  Yet bonds improved slightly in the immediate wake of the data.  We can only surmise that there are either bigger fish for traders to fry or that the report was taken with a hefty grain of salt considering the same summertime idiosyncrasies making themselves apparent elsewhere in markets.

It wasn't until forex markets made big moves that bonds finally started selling.  On a short term basis, there is a decent amount of correlation between the dollar and Treasuries.  The underlying culprit was an IMF report on Japan's QE efforts and currency valuation. 

The weakness only ran so far, and it stopped at an important place in the range--2.34% in terms of 10yr yields.  This is the pivot/inflection point we needed to see hold as a ceiling today in order to have a shot at breaking the next technical levels (arguably 2.31 and 2.29).  10yr yields are currently trading right around the 2.29 level, so it's a fluid situation at the moment.  If there's to be a significant break lower today, it's as-yet unclear where the motivation will come from, other than a simple "tradeflow snowball."  We'll talk more about that in the recap if it happens.


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
99-30 : +0-04
FNMA 3.5
103-09 : +0-04
FNMA 4.0
106-03 : +0-02
Treasuries
2 YR
0.7020 : -0.0080
10 YR
2.2860 : -0.0410
30 YR
2.9970 : -0.0480
Pricing as of 7/23/15 1:19PMEST

Morning Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
10:01AM  :  Currencies, Europe, Stocks, All Helping Bonds Bounce Back
9:12AM  :  ALERT ISSUED: Early Negative Reprice Considerations
8:54AM  :  Paradoxical Reaction to Jobless Claims Data or Delayed Reaction?

Live Chat Featured Comments
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Victor Burek  :  "was just thinking, are bond traders sleeping today..."
Matthew Graham  :  "Wow... talk about a report that used to matter, but that now hardly gets noticed even with a 25k beat on NFP survey week. "
Victor Burek  :  "fewest claims since 1973!"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS- US CONTINUED CLAIMS FELL TO 2.207 MLN (CONS. 2.225 MLN) JULY 11 WEEK FROM 2.216 MLN PRIOR WEEK (PREV 2.215 MLN)"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS- US JOBLESS CLAIMS FELL TO 255,000 JULY 18 WEEK (CONSENSUS 280,000) FROM 281,000 PRIOR WEEK (PREVIOUS 281,000)"
Victor Burek  :  "unless data dramatically changes for the worse, I think they will in sept"
Matthew Graham  :  "RTRS- REUTERS POLL-U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE SEEN RAISING INTEREST RATES IN SEPTEMBER, PACE LIKELY GRADUAL"