While there is some variation depending on the part of the country and the school district, this week is Spring Break for quite a few people, and if today is any indication, many of them are bond traders.  Volumes and volatility were both light, but the range was notable in that we held our ground in the face of some negative cues.  In particular, German Bunds and stocks both suggested bond market weakness in the morning hours, but Treasuries and MBS didn't seem to care too much.  A noncommittal head-fake toward weaker levels soon gave way to calm ground-holding for the rest of the session.

The bigger-picture is noncommittal as well, but in a less positive way.  This can be easily seen on the 5-day charts on MBS Live.  Notice how both MBS and Treasuries have merely coasted back down (or up) to post-FOMC levels, but haven't even attempted to break them yet.

2015-3-23 dashboard charts

This may or may not prove to be meaningful, but for now, it suggests a slightly more defensive, skeptical stance until the resistance is broken (emphasis on "slightly"). 

There were ample headlines from Greece's Prime Minister and German Chancellor Merkel, as well as Fed Vice President Fischer, but markets didn't find them interesting enough to affect trading levels.  Same story for the roughly-as-expected Existing Home Sales data out at 10am.


MBS Pricing Snapshot
Pricing shown below is delayed, please note the timestamp at the bottom. Real time pricing is available via MBS Live.
MBS
FNMA 3.0
102-07 : +0-03
FNMA 3.5
104-31 : +0-04
FNMA 4.0
106-26 : +0-03
Treasuries
2 YR
0.5770 : -0.0083
10 YR
1.9090 : -0.0230
30 YR
2.5090 : +0.0016
Pricing as of 3/23/15 5:37PMEST

Today's Reprice Alerts and Updates
A recap of Alerts and Updates provided to MBS Live subscribers.
10:16AM  :  Bond Markets Staying Strong in The Face of Several Modest Threats

MBS Live Chat Highlights
A recap of featured comments from the Live Discussion on the MBS Live Dashboard.
Ira Selwin  :  "The actual 1084 doesn't seperate it as you said, but the notes on the form tell you to."
Ira Selwin  :  "Line 22 – Travel, Meals, and Entertainment: These expenses relate to the cost of business-related travel, meals, and entertainment and therefore the full amount of these expenses should be taken into account when determining the borrower's actual cash flow. If a portion of these expenses is excluded for meals and entertainment, subtract this exclusion from Total Income."
Scott Valins  :  "Form 1084 Fannie Cash Flow doesn't separate travel from meals and ent and says to subtract the expense from income"
Scott Valins  :  "travel gets hit 50% like meals and entertainment w Fannie"
Bryce Schetselaar  :  "12-04 was the original one if memory serves"
Ramona Hall  :  "Do you know the ML number?"
Bryce Schetselaar  :  "yes"
Ramona Hall  :  "Question: I have an fha streamline and the borrower purchase in May of 2008. Is the lower annual mip grandfathered in?"
Giles Rebholz  :  "Patrick, yes, MI is deductible for 2014..."
Patrick McCarroll  :  "Hey gang, is mortgage insurance still tax deductible for a family who earns less than $110K per year? "