Everything I'm not about to cover has already been covered HERE.  That being the case, the day gets a lot more boring and even a touch of positivity by the time it's done.  You like shorter MBS Commentary sometimes right?  Maybe even some recap bullet-points and a chart or two. 

  • Rates either held on to weaker levels following yesterday's news or moved even higher. 
  • From the noon hour on, rates improved to close just slightly better than the previous close
  • MBS 4.0's were actually unchanged at 97-02 whereas 4.5's were up 1 tick at 100-08
  • Treasuries weakness persisted as expected in the short end with the 2yr relatively unchanged at .92
  • 10yr Treasuries however, caught a bid, rising 8 ticks, and taking the yield down 3bps to 3.77.
  • Everything remains range-bound albeit on the higher side of the 2010 range right now.

 

A Note On Next Week...

Next week is utterly inundated with Fed speak.  You get Bernanke right off the bat on Monday and twice more before all is said and done, in addition to a boat-load of other Fed governors.  Plus plenty of data on the calendar.  Plus a round of auctions.  Plus GDP on Friday.  If you ask me, something fishy is going on...  Fishy good?  Fishy Bad?  Don't know... But next week may not trade like a "normal" week. 

The suggestion here is for vigilance more than a call to action, but since there is more than an average amount of uncertainty in the market next week, and knowing what we know about 2010, and knowing that the Fed MBS exit continues to loom, I'd be more defensive than I otherwise would be on a flat trading day at the ostensible bottom of a sell-off.