Next Up: Alcoa
4/12/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 6bp this morning. Earnings season officially kicks off with Alcoa announcing earnings after the bell today. The Dow is over the 11,000 mark this morning. This would normally mean that we would have a pull back as investors digest the the rally. The bond markets have also seen some movement here this morning. I think we have investors positioning themselves for the earnings week ahead. No Fed to smooth out the rough spots could lean...

Earnings Season
4/9/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are minus 3bp this morning. Today should be a pretty uneventful day. Earnings season kicks off Monday. Traders should take it easy leading up to the first earnings report. If earnings are not up to par, we could see a major correction in the markets. However, if they are in line, rates will continue to climb. Have a great weekend!

I have listed the average monthly rate for the 30 year fixed rate mortgage for the last 6 years....

Mixed Data
4/8/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 6bp this morning. Rates are better today after a very strong auction yesterday and a late in the day MBS rally. Today we saw better than expected retail sales and worse than expected jobs numbers. Greece continues to be a sore spot. There are some in the FOMC that continue to say that the Fed should reduce its balance sheet. The would put severe pressure on the MBS market. This was a nice pull back in rates and I would consider locking...

It's a Rally
4/7/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 12bp this morning. Two straight days of MBS gains and we are still over 100bp from where we started and rates have not budged. The Fed stated in the minutes released yesterday, that they will be cautious in raising rates not to derail the progress they have made by raising them too soon. The problem is the markets must play along with the Fed and purchase MBS. Auction results will be released today at noon. That could take back any...

The Bleeding Stops
4/6/10 Mortgage Backed Securities are plus 16bp this morning. Three long days of heavy declines in the MBS market are reversed today. We have the FOMC minutes being released today and a large bond offering. The reversal could be short lived. Stocks are weaker this morning and Greece is having problems again with their debt. The Fed is talking about selling its 1.25 trillion dollars of MBS. Yesterday the 10 year Treasury was over 4.00% yield for the first time in over a...