At a few points in the past 2 days, it looked as if bonds were finally ready to move back toward lower yields after 2 weeks spent moving fairly quickly higher. After all, much of that weakness was due to fear that the UK could slam through a negotiated Brexit deal in enough time to have it approved by the October 31st deadline. As of yesterday, it was all but guaranteed that could no longer happen, so it wouldn't have been a surprise to see bonds capitalize on the initial strength.
Instead, bonds spent essentially all day moving higher in yield!
Now today, they had another chance... Perhaps yesterday was too soon for the rally to commence. If we could get through today's econ data and Treasury auction with no whammies, maybe today would make more sense as ground zero for the next push toward lower rates.
For a few hours, it looked like that's what was happening. Markit PMI data was tepid-to-weak. Durable Goods disappointed. The 7yr Auction was well-received. And a morning sell-off following Draghi comments was quickly thwarted. Add all that to the fact that Treasuries have been oversold and Brexit risk has been punted into the future at the very least and you have a really decent and logical case for some gains. I guess it was too logical for bond traders...
In other words, bonds lost ground throughout the second half of the day, thus failing to capitalize on the lay-up opportunity. If there's a counterpoint, it's that all of this so-called "movement" has taken place in a range that's narrow enough to suggest we don't take it too seriously, yet. Still, it would be nice to see the bond market make more of a commitment to improve given the clear permission from data, events, and technicals.