Fri, Mar 23 2018, 8:31 AM
The past 2 days represented a nice little run for bonds, but unfortunately it may end up looking like one of those fool's errands that was destined ...
Thu, Mar 22 2018, 5:38 PM
Today was simple and straightforward in one sense. Stocks and bond yields (rates) were both moving lower, and that's something the two have been kn...
Thu, Mar 22 2018, 9:15 AM
One of my favorite things to do is to push back on news media bandwagons with indignation and incredulity. Today provides a great opportunity for tha...
Wed, Mar 21 2018, 6:08 PM
If you're not up to speed on a few of the funniest scenes from Monty Python and The Holy Grail, this analogy is going to be tough to follow. In the i...
Wed, Mar 21 2018, 2:04 PM
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December January indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen an...
Wed, Mar 21 2018, 9:28 AM
This is a quick guide designed to help you approach this afternoon's Fed events in a logical and useful way.
What's Happening Today and When?
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Tue, Mar 20 2018, 5:04 PM
Imagine you manage a baseball team. Let's say it's little league , because what follows probably wouldn't happen in the bigs. You're working with y...
Tue, Mar 20 2018, 9:50 AM
While there have been a few pockets of decent gains in the past week (Thursday afternoon and yesterday morning), the general trend has been toward wea...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 4:44 PM
Bonds entered the domestic session feeling a bit down on their luck. There was some general weakness early in the overnight session, but just before ...
Mon, Mar 19 2018, 9:15 AM
If it weren't for the Fed Announcement on Wednesday, this would look like a prime vacation week for market participants as there is a distinct lack ...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 5:36 PM
There were quite a few economic reports on tap today, and that made for some entertaining market watching! Reason being, every time a report came out...
Fri, Mar 16 2018, 9:45 AM
I was pretty happy to have made it through yesterday without seeing or writing any "Ides of March" headlines. I can't ever quite remember what the wo...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 4:42 PM
Today is most easily discussed based on what it wasn't.
Today wasn't a big selling day. That's nice to see-- especially in 2018, and especi...
Thu, Mar 15 2018, 9:41 AM
You may have noticed that, as of February 22nd, bonds haven't been experiencing the same sort of pain that characterized the first month and a half of...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 4:41 PM
We've seen plenty of instances of bond markets shrugging off clear suggestions in the economic data, but today wasn't one of them! Retail Sales and...
Wed, Mar 14 2018, 9:52 AM
The first month and a half of 2018 was fairly brutal for bond markets. Metaphorically speaking, it was like retreating from their home across a field...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 4:56 PM
Bond markets moved to their best levels in more than a week on a combination of tame inflation data and Trump's unexpected announcement of Rex Till...
Tue, Mar 13 2018, 8:30 AM
Since at least the middle of 2017, the Consumer Price Index has been in the driver's seat as far as economic data that matters to bonds. This likely ...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 5:23 PM
Bond markets were slightly weaker to start the session, but soon found some support from a European bond market rally. Even after the European close...
Mon, Mar 12 2018, 9:34 AM
Thanks to February's lower day count throwing off the normal cadence of Treasury auctions, bond markets will have to take down 3 auctions in the first...
Fri, Mar 9 2018, 8:29 AM
Beliefs, expectations, and assertions can be tricky business if they're not backed up by hard data. No other economic report brings as many armchair ...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 6:35 PM
The ECB released a policy announcement this morning. They weren't expected to make any significant changes and indeed they made none. Well, to be ...
Thu, Mar 8 2018, 9:11 AM
European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi's press conference (which follows the scheduled ECB policy announcement) could set the tone for bon...
Wed, Mar 7 2018, 4:41 PM
The resignation of White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohn thew markets a curveball when it was announced after the close of business yesterday. Cur...
Wed, Mar 7 2018, 9:48 AM
At the close of business yesterday, the bond market outlook was decidedly negative. We're not talking about a colossal shift in sentiment, mind you, ...
Tue, Mar 6 2018, 6:59 PM
It may or may not actually be shocking to learn that White House economic advisor Cohn has resigned , but it certainly wasn't a given. Cohn had prev...
Tue, Mar 6 2018, 9:19 AM
If you've ever invested or even thought about investing, you likely have a magic number when it comes to the rate of return that would motivate you to...
Mon, Mar 5 2018, 5:48 PM
Bonds were moderately stronger in the overnight session thanks to European political uncertainty, among other things. One of those "other things" c...
Mon, Mar 5 2018, 9:22 AM
The good news is that bond markets improved--albeit microscopically--during each of the past 3 weeks. That's significant because before that 3-week...
Fri, Mar 2 2018, 7:43 PM
If only it were October! The costume contest at the annual bond trader Halloween bash would be easy to win with that "2.79%" costume in the back of...
Fri, Mar 2 2018, 9:25 AM
If 2018 is a football game for bond markets, this week's trading through yesterday afternoon represented our first touchdown (let's not talk about how...
Thu, Mar 1 2018, 6:14 PM
The title is a play on words, you see? It utilizes the word "tariff," which was the subject of much discussion and market movement today, in designat...
Thu, Mar 1 2018, 9:26 AM
This is currently the best week of the year for bond markets. The same was true of last week in the sense that it was the first time in 2018 that yie...
Wed, Feb 28 2018, 4:15 PM
2.90% or something close to it continues to look like the center of a range of yields that might like to... think about... maybe... potentially... try...
Wed, Feb 28 2018, 8:43 AM
You may have noticed that things have been a bit different recently for rates/bonds. Whereas almost any given day saw a move higher/weaker so far in ...
Tue, Feb 27 2018, 5:09 PM
Way back in 2014, Yellen gave her inaugural semi-annual congressional testimony on March 19th. When asked what the Fed meant by "considerable time" w...
Tue, Feb 27 2018, 10:02 AM
Today's key event will be the fielding of questions by Fed Chair Powell at the semi-annual congressional testimony. Sometimes known as the Humphrey H...
Mon, Feb 26 2018, 6:52 PM
In this morning's Day Ahead, we discussed an hour-by-hour chart of several technical overlays for rates. The thesis was that this most recent rally (...
Mon, Feb 26 2018, 4:33 AM
Today's first chart is really uncanny--well, perhaps if you're some sort of technical analysis nerd, or just some guy named Matt who writes about tech...
Fri, Feb 23 2018, 5:33 PM
Early in the month (Feb 5th), bonds had their best day of the year as they soaked up a mere fraction of the cash that was fleeing from equities market...
Fri, Feb 23 2018, 8:53 AM
In 2010 and 2011, the early phases of the European financial crisis caused movement in US bond markets that puzzled a majority of domestic investors. ...
Thu, Feb 22 2018, 5:25 PM
MBS gained a quarter of a point today and 10yr yields fell more than 3bps despite stock market gains (albeit from yesterday's weak closing levels) a...
Thu, Feb 22 2018, 9:47 AM
There's nothing significant on the econ calendar today, and bonds are starting out by retreating (in a good way) back into the center of the ongoing u...
Wed, Feb 21 2018, 6:29 PM
The Fed released the minutes from its late January meeting today. Markets thought about them for 20 minutes and then tanked. What's up with that?!
...
Wed, Feb 21 2018, 9:39 AM
Today's key events arrive in the afternoon in the form of a 5yr Treasury auction at 1pm and the release of the FOMC Minutes at 2pm. Not to be confus...
Tue, Feb 20 2018, 6:10 PM
Today was a total dud in terms of volume and volatility. That's not all that uncommon on the Tuesday following a 3-day weekend, especially if there a...
Tue, Feb 20 2018, 9:57 AM
Last Friday's Day Ahead was all about positions. Read it HERE, if you haven't done so or need a refresher. It advocated caution with respect to floa...
Fri, Feb 16 2018, 4:14 PM
Tiny pockets of gains have come and gone in the vast sea of red that's dominated 2018 so far. Each pocket has attempted to lure optimists into a "b...
Fri, Feb 16 2018, 10:16 AM
While they're extremely important to institutional investors and analysts, the role of trading positions in the bond market is one of the most easily...
Thu, Feb 15 2018, 4:14 PM
At face value, today was great! Bonds overlooked all of the morning's economic data (no surprise) and made modest gains that were subsequently held...
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