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Equities markets have been tanking from the get-go this morning as reasons abound to move in a "risk-off" direction. But "forced selling" is perhaps the biggest driver at the moment, and this looks all the more likely considering the huge bounce back that's unfolded over the past 5 minutes.

Forget the morning data. It's not having an impact at the moment. The Euro tanked along with equities most severely heading into the 10am hour. It took Treasuries and MBS a while to react , but forced buying there complimented the forced selling in stocks. European concerns are a factor, as are the escalating geopolitical tensions in the Mid-East.

All of the above carried Treasuries to their lowest yields in over a month and MBS prices to their best levels of the week, as high as 105-08 on Fannie 3.0s. We've since fallen back to 105-03, which is still 7 ticks higher on the day. Several lenders repriced for the better on the positivity. More may follow if we hold these gains.

Stocks are whipsawing like nobody's business, ostensibly in response or anticipation of headlines out of Washington after the President met with Congressional leaders on the Fiscal Cliff. We have no new news on that front, yet, but will update you when it hits. For now, S&P futures are off their 1340 lows, all the way up to 1352 in a few short minutes.

Volatility reigns supreme for stocks and bond markets are doing their best to make smaller iterations of those swings.

More from MND:

• MBS Commentary: MBS RECAP: Attempting To Consolidate After Wednesday's Sell-Off
• Mortgage Rate Watch: Mortgage Rates Carried Higher Still By Yesterday's Momentum
• Pipeline Press: Can't Count on Low Rates Forever, Right? Why QE3 Could be Expensive; HUD disaster relief
• MND NewsWire: New Homes Hit Record Median Price in April, Sales Rise
• MBS Commentary: MBS MID-DAY: Treasuries Green, MBS Red

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