Standing Pat
4/29/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 6bp this morning. The FOMC released the minutes from their two day meeting and left their message unchanged. There has been no effect on interest rates. The markets are up today as unemployment was little changed. Looks like it will be another slow news cycle day. We will update if things change.

Here is a list of high impact news being released this week: There are four auctions this week. Consumer confidence will...

Waiting on the Fed
4/28/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 19bp this morning. Greece gets a larger aid package and the crisis is averted for now. The stock markets have rallied on the news. The markets will move sideways this morning. The FOMC will release a statement after their two day meeting concludes today at 1:15. The Fed has not changed the language of the release in quite some time. Their plans to sell MBS will be what we are watching. We will also get a look at the results of...

Lacking Direction
4/26/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 12bp this morning. There is no high impact news being released today. We do have the first of four auction results being released midday. We had better than expected earnings this morning and that pushed stocks higher at the open. The markets have since stalled and are in a holding pattern. With the recent run up in the stock market and the FOMC meeting Wednesday, we do not expect much movement in the markets. Members of the FOMC...

Supply and Demand
4/23/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are minus 28bp this morning and that makes minus 50bps since yesterday. Greece is weighing less and the markets and investors are not seeking the safe haven of bonds. Durable goods orders were down and new home sales were up. With investors not buying bonds and there is a new supply next, we could see rates start to tick up. The Treasury is rumored to be thinking of selling some of their bonds. That could be released at a meeting next week....

Earnings
4/21/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 22bp this morning. Investors are focused on earnings with no other economic data being released. This will be the case for the remainder of the week. The only item that could effect the markets would be the announcement of the bond auction schedule for next week. The markets have been fairly subdued the last few days. We expect volatility to return in the near future. We advise our clients to lock.

I have listed the average...