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Indecisive investor attitudes carry over into the week ahead where two major events are seen shaping outlooks. The U.S. Federal Reserve will conclude a two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday afternoon with the release of the FOMC Statement. We expect the Fed to confirm an end to its second Quantitative Easing program (QEII) and indicate that further quantitative easing measures are totally dependent on new economic data developments. The Fed's current stance calls for economic growth to pick...

The week ahead holds key jobs data that will likely dictate market directionality as the 2nd Quarter comes to a close. The monthly Employment Situation Report will be released on Friday morning; investors expect it to confirm an economic slowdown is indeed in progress. Economists polled by Reuters see just 190k jobs were added to Nonfarm Payrolls in May versus 244k in April and 221k in March. "Higher readings of initial claims for unemployment insurance in recent weeks have led to concerns about...

While cash fled equities in the wake of Standard & Poor’s revising its outlook on U.S. debt to negative from stable yesterday, the Treasury market rallied to near-one month highs. The benchmark 10-year yield declined four basis points to 3.37% while the 30-year yield fell two basis points to 4.35% and the FNCL 4.5 MBS coupon went out 9/32 higher in price at 102-05. Treasury yields drifted progressively higher in active overnight trading. The benchmark 10-year note is currently -4/32 at...

The week begins with rate sheet influential MBS coupons below key support and the 10-year note trading in a bearish trend channel after key support levels were broken on Friday in a low volume environment. 10s continued their upward drift early in the London session last night fter moving mostly sideways in Asian trading. More hawkish Fed rhetoric was on the wires Saturday with St. Louis Fed President James Bullard communicating his nervous sentiments surrounding the FOMC's use of the phrase "Extended...

Stocks have nearly doubled since the market fell to its lowest level of the financial crisis exactly two years ago today. Shares now look to move higher for a second consecutive day as OPEC says an emergency meeting isn’t necessary despite the continued crackdown in Libya. S&P 500 futures are 3.00 points higher at 1,323.00 and Dow futures are trading 31 points up at 12,230. Both indexes jumped about 1% Tuesday after Bank of America posted upbeat profits and initiated a financial sector...

The economic data calendar thins out a bit but market watchers still have plenty of news and events to absorb in the days ahead. MND expects investors to focus on the health of consumer balance sheets and whether or not Main Street is feeling the pain of a margin squeeze as food and energy costs rise without much needed growth in hourly wages. Reuters reports the week’s main event on the data front is likely to be February retail sales on Friday. They have recovered to pre-recession levels...

It's a busy week in terms of new economic data and events. Fed Chairman Bernanke will share his semi-annual update on the status of the economy and monetary policy. Markets remain responsive to increasing levels of unrest in the Middle East. Here at home, the White House and Congress have until the end of this week to reach agreement on a federal spending-cut bill for the rest of this fiscal year... or face a partial shutdown of the U.S. government.. Finally, the most important economic data of the...