Qualitative assessments of probable future behavior have been risky propositions when it comes to markets, but today's session looks like it will be a quiet one.  To be safe, we can only really say that the data on tap doesn't have us very close to the edge of our seats, but we'd always leave the door open for potential headline tape-bombs, especially of the European variety.

Such was the case on Tuesday when ECB's Asmussen effectively told Greece they were on their own in terms of meeting the Troika's requirements.  The Troika (ECB, IMF, and European Commission) signs off on Greece's bailout installments, and two days ago said that Greece's budget deficit, some €20 bln, was not only double the previous estimates, but simply "higher than zero," which is what it has to be in order to get more bailout cash.  Greece signaled intentions to rollover some of its ECB-held debt to help close the gap, and yesterday's comments from Asmussen suggest the ECB is going the "tough love" route.

We delve into a bit of extra detail here on Greece not to credit it with yesterday's market movements (though it certainly deserves some), but rather to say THESE are the sorts of behind-the-scenes happenings in the EU that can exert an almost unseen push-pull on domestic trading levels.  The days where the calendar of scheduled events is limited are the days where there's more potential for such headlines to move markets.  Wednesday is one of those days in some regards.

The overnight calendar is about as sparse as it will get this week with only a few scattered reports from individual countries.  Too, the US calendar, though not empty, still lacks the punch to cause any major shift in recent trends.  New Home Sales is the only somewhat significant report in the morning (10am) and the 5yr Treasury Note Auction anchors the afternoon at 1pm. 

But much as has been the case with 2's and 3's, 5yr Treasuries get less and less interesting the farther the Fed's zero interest rate verbiage creeps into the future.  Still, we're not ready to give up on 5's as we have on 2's and 3's just yet, and hold out the possibility than an auction surprise could shake up the afternoon.  Given the choice however, we're more interested in the following two days of data which contain the lion's share of this week's relevant reports.

MBS Live Econ Calendar:

Week Of Mon, Sep 17 2012 - Fri, Sep 21 2012

Time

Event

Period

Unit

Forecast

Prior

Mon, Sep 24

08:30

National Activity Index

Aug

--

--

-0.13

Tue, Sep 25

09:00

CaseShiller 20 mm SA

Jul

%

0.8

0.9

10:00

Consumer confidence

Sep

--

62.6

60.6

10:00

Monthly Home Price mm

Jul

%

--

0.7

Wed, Sep 26

07:00

MBA Purchase Index

w/e

--

--

185.7

07:00

Mortgage refinance index

w/e

--

--

4765.3

10:00

New home sales-units mm

Aug

ml

0.380

0.372

10:00

New home sales chg mm

Aug

%

--

3.6

13:00

5-Yr Treasury Auction

--

--

--

--

Thu, Sep 27

08:30

Durable goods

Aug

%

-4.4

4.1

08:30

Initial Jobless Claims

w/e

k

378

382

08:30

GDP

Q2

--

+1.7

+1.7

10:00

Pending sales change mm

Aug

%

0.0

+2.4

13:00

7-Yr Note Auction

--

--

--

--

Fri, Sep 28

08:30

Personal consumption mm

Aug

%

+0.5

+0.4

08:30

Personal income mm

Aug

%

+0.2

+0.3

08:30

Core PCE price index mm

Aug

%

+0.1

+0.0

09:45

Chicago PMI

Sep

--

53.0

53.0

09:55

U Mich sentiment

Sep

--

79.0

79.2

* mm: monthly | yy: annual | qq: quarterly | "w/e" in "period" column indicates a weekly report

* Q1: First Quarter | Adv: Advance Release | Pre: Preliminary Release | Fin: Final Release

* (n)SA: (non) Seasonally Adjusted

* PMI: "Purchasing Managers Index"