|  |  |  | | | | | Mortgage News Daily | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: MBS Commentary Another data-less day has passed and we've seen another day of chopatility led by technical inflection levels surrounding the Fed's open market operations. Yesterday it was "morning session good, PM session bad," and today it was "morning session bad, PM session good". MBS and Treasuries alike languished until 2pm. But the downtick was fairly measured and well contained by technical support, although things did get choppier as the afternoon pre-POMO (2nd operation of the day) trade coincided with lighter and lighter volumes. Here is a recap of 5pm marks... For mortgages, the end result was a Fannie 4.0 that gained half a point trough to peak and closed at the highs, better than mid-range versus yesterday's prices. Those FN 4.0s sure do love a bull flattener into decling vol! Treasuries did...(read more) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: MBS Commentary Trading activity in rate sheet influential coupons has really died down since we experienced yet another directional shift following the Fed's latest POMO this morning. (Common occurrence lately READ MORE ) Volume has tapered off and price action has gone sideways while money flows did improve modestly but still negative on the day in benchmark 10s. Yeh. This has definitely been the slowest day of the week so far. The benchmark 10 year note has settled right between my short term 62% fibonacci fan retracement and my long term 38% fibonacci fan retracement. We discussed these inflection points yesterday . If positive progress is to continue we must break through the long term 38% retracement level or yields are going to follow that originator unfriendly trend channel higher in a choppy fashion...(read more) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: MBS Commentary As has been the case since liquidity began to dry up in earnest two weeks ago...the bond market has made a directional move after the Fed completed their latest QEII open market operation. Profit takers and short sellers are making their presence known following the Fed's latest POMO in the long end of the yield curve. Flows have gone negative in a hurry. Again..trading volumes are very low and this behavior is exaggerated by a lack of liquidity, but that means to little to lenders. Rate sheet influential MBS prices are moving lower...and fast. The benchmark 10 year TSY note yield is now -5/32 at 93-27 yielding 3.361%. This is almost 7bps above the overnight yield lows, most of which hit screens in one sharp spike. The FNCL 4.5 is -5/32 at 98-19. This is 10/32 below the morning price highs...(read more) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: The Garrett Watts Report One of my favorite one liners comes from the movie Jerry Maguire when Cuba Gooding, Jr. tells Tom Cruise to "Show Me the Money" . I've heard over and over again from owner/operators that they've built an infrastructure to support their monthly production projections, yet for some reason they seldom hit those targets. These numbers are pie in the sky. Operation owners and managers of mortgage companies preach about loan production, branch expansions and proformas rather than focusing on improving productivity to...drum roll please...MAKE MORE MONEY! Making money is not all about producing loans. It's about running the business efficiently. Don't get me wrong, loan production is a very very important part of the process, but that production needs to be profitable. During interviews we ask clients...(read more) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: Voice of Housing We are coming to the close of a watershed year in the financial services field. The most far reaching financial legislation since the era of reform under Franklin D. Roosevelt passed; the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act and creation of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Every sector of the federal government dealing with the financial services industry will be affected by this far reaching legislation. In addition the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) released its regulations implementing Basel III. These domestic and international acts will, after full implementation, provide the stage for the complete overhaul of the financial services industry not only in America but the World over the next ten years. Still to be decided is the future of the GSE's, Fannie and Freddie. How...(read more) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: Pipeline Press When investors are scared about inflation, or lack of inflation, political turmoil, increasing debt, etc., they buy gold , and the price goes up. And when things calm down, usually the demand decreases and the price goes down. Back in 1980 the price hit $850 per ounce - holy smokes - but that pales in comparison to gold now, which is sitting around $1,390 per ounce. In the "old days" you actually had to have cash to buy gold, or you could buy stock in gold mining companies as a proxy - but that added another layer of volatility and risk. Since 2004, however, one can buy gold through exchange-traded funds (ETF's). Historically gold has gone up 2% per year (versus 8% for stocks) although since 2001 the price of gold in US dollars has more than quadrupled. And historically investors have used...(read more) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Posted To: MBS Commentary Good Morning. Treasury trading was very limited in the overnight session. Benchmark 10s ticked up to 3.357% on the Asian open and moved sideways from there until London got underway and a modest bid made it's way into the long end of the curve and pushed 10s as low as 3.295%. The 2.625% coupon bearing 10 year note is currently +8/32 at 94-08 yielding 3.311%. The 2s/10s curve is 3bps flatter at 271 wide. The FNCL 4.5 is UNCH at 101-31. The FNCL 4.0 is +2/32 at 98-26. The secondary market current coupon is less than a bp lower at 4.139%. Yield spreads are slightly wider vs. benchmarks. Trading volumes are very low in the rate sheet influential end of the yield curve. Asian markets surged as tensions between North and South Korea seem to have eased somewhat. China’s Shanghai index closed...(read more) | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
