In a sick way, it would have been easier to see additional weakness in bond markets today. At least that would have jived with past precedent of "course corrections" from the Fed resulting in a shift in the prevailing momentum. Arguably, yesterday's Fed announcement was a course correction--not because they implemented the balance sheet normalization, but rather, because they clarified the impact that recent data and events had on their rate hike outlook. Long story short, recent data and events didn't slow the Fed down as much as markets figured it would.
It wouldn't have been a surprise to see yesterday's weakness continue overnight and into the next several trading days. Instead, bonds picked out a fairly handy technical ceiling at 2.28% in 10 yr yields and left it completely intact through the 3pm CME close (we've drifted just a hair higher in the after-hours session). The resilience is nice to see, but it leaves us to wonder if the past 2 weeks of selling on bonds was enough to preemptively account for the Fed's aforementioned course correction. The clearly-delineated bounce at 2.245% today suggests that selling pressure won't be quickly or easily shaken off, but without a clear break above 2.28%, we can't be certain more selling is on the way.
In terms of specifics today, the morning economic data was uneventful. The Philly Fed Index was stronger than expected (23.8 vs 17.2) as were Jobless Claims (259k vs 300k). Neither had a noticeable impact on trading levels, and Jobless Claims were further marginalized by a note regarding hurricane impact and its distortion of the number. There is no significant economic data on tap for tomorrow though we will hear from several Fed speakers throughout the day.