Although there were no significant economic reports on tap today, bond markets still faced a few hurdles--more than 20 billion of them, in fact.  That's how many new dollars of corporate bond issuance hit the market today. 

Why is that bad?  It's not necessarily, but corporate bonds do create more bond market "supply" in general.  Like anything, higher supply puts pressure on prices to move lower.  The only reason that this hefty amount of supply ($20bln+ is a big day) didn't result in day-over-day losses is that most of the deals aren't outright surprises to market participants by the time they're announced.

In other words, traders know there is going to be corporate issuance.  They just don't always know exactly how much there will be and exactly when it will hit the market.  The net effect is a bond market that held mostly steady today instead of taking cues from falling oil prices or European bond yields. 

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
100-06 : +0-03
FNMA 3.5
103-11 : +0-03
FNMA 4.0
105-31 : +0-02
Treasuries
2 YR
1.0200 : -0.0160
10 YR
2.2390 : -0.0060
30 YR
2.9990 : +0.0100
Pricing as of 1/5/16 5:40PMEST
Today's Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
9:33AM  :  ALERT ISSUED: Already Approaching Negative Reprice Territory For Some Lenders
MBS Live Chat Highlights
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Clayton Sandy  :  "Employment Offers or Contracts If the borrower is scheduled to begin employment after the loan closes, the lender may, depending on its risk appetite, use the borrower’s offer or contract for future employment and income to underwrite and close the loan. If receipt of the income or employment information cannot be obtained prior to delivery to Fannie Mae, the loan is ineligible for delivery. ✓ Verification of Employment Offers or Contracts The lender must document the borrower’s income and employment history per B3-3.1-01, General Income Information (06/30/2015). The lender must obtain the borrower’s offer or contract for future employment and anticipated income. The lender must determine whether to close the mortgage loan prior to the borrower beginning the new employment. The borrower must begin employment before the lender delivers the loan to Fannie Mae. The lender must obtain a paystub from the borrower that includes sufficient information to support the income used to qualify the borrower prior to delivering the loan. The paystub must be retained in the mortgage loan file."
Matt Hodges  :  "as a correspondent, we can close them with WF and USB fannie and CH freddie with an affidavit and collecting 30 days post close. internal our policy is close up to 59 days prior to start, with no employment contingencies."
Ted Rood  :  "I know they have some guidance, NS, but don't think it includes a specific time frame on closing pre-employment."
Nathan Stotlar  :  "Its lender specific as to how much risk they are willing to take and how fast they sell it. I have seen the same guidance on Freddie as what CS stated."
Clayton Sandy  :  "Fannie requires the pay stub like Ted mentioned. Freddie does not."
Nathan Stotlar  :  "FNMA has guidance"
Clayton Sandy  :  "I believe BB&T allows up to 90 days with 2 months reserves via Freddie"
Ted Rood  :  "There's no specific Fannie guidance, have to have paycheck before you can send closed file to them however."
Caroline Roy  :  "I've asked this before, but gotten a few different answers. On Conv. What is the earliest you can close before the start of a signed contract?"