For MBS Live members, this recap will largely be a rehash of the day's most recent update which pointed out a consolidative range in force over the past two days. Bond weakened just enough for a small amount of concern earlier today, but a friendly bounce let us know that traders had likely decided on the range for the rest of the day. Here was the chart from that update:
And here is a more zoomed in version showing us how the rest of the day has played out (through the 3pm close).
The takeaway here is that this week's FOMC events were good enough for token rally in bonds. It is nice to see, though it's still a "safe" move considering it doesn't take us officially back into the previous "post-Brexit" range that dominated most of July and August.
Next week is month/quarter-end--a more active time for bond trading, and one where we often see the effects of compulsory trades that must be made before the end of the month-quarter. This adds an element of complexity, as well as volume and liquidity to a market already tasked with deciding on its next move. It should be interesting.