Wild Ride on Jobs Day as Fed Speakers Steal The Show

Wild Ride on Jobs Day as Fed Speakers Steal The Show

We came into jobs report day expecting some clarity on the size of the Fed's impending rate cut and in hindsight, it's abundantly clear that traders felt the same way.  The only catch is that the lion's share of the clarity was reserved for a few short comments from Fed's Chris Waller. The market initially mistook those comments to suggest a 50bp cut, but swiftly reconsidered.  In terms of Fed Funds Futures, the volume and volatility surrounding Waller's comments were FAR bigger than the action surrounding the jobs report earlier in the morning. Ultimately, it was a good enough day for rates with bonds holding modest gains.

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Wild Ride on Jobs Day as Fed Speakers Steal The Show

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.0 100.13 +0.17 10YR 3.710% -0.019% 9/6/2024 5:00PM EST
Here's one of those rare moments where markets have been volatile enough that the slower lenders could be moving one way while the jumpier lenders make the opposite move.  In the current case, we've seen a mini-flood of positive reprices thanks to the gains heading into the 11am hour.  MBS are still up 6 ticks (.19) on the day and up nearly a quarter point from the lows seen just after 10am. On the other hand, MBS are also down roughly a quarter point from the...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.27% -0.08% 15YR Fixed 5.65% -0.20% 9/6/2024
Mortgage rates have a long and storied history of making big moves on the day that the big monthly jobs report comes out.  In that regard, today was fairly normal.  Indeed, the jobs report came out and mortgage rates made their biggest move of the week, dropping to the lowest levels since April 2023. The biggest catch in today's case was the fact that much of the market movement came in response to comments from several Fed officials who weighed in on the prospec...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Friday, Sep 06
8:30AM Average Hourly Earnings YoY 3.8% 3.7% 3.6%
8:30AM Aug Average earnings mm (%) Aug 0.4% 0.3% 0.2%
8:30AM Aug Average workweek hrs (hr) Aug 34.3 34.3 34.2
8:30AM Aug Manufacturing payrolls (k) Aug -24K 0K 1K
8:30AM Aug Participation Rate Aug 62.7% 62.7%
8:30AM Aug Government Payrolls Aug 24K 17K
8:30AM U-6 Unemployment Rate 7.9% 7.8%
8:30AM Aug Unemployment rate mm (%) Aug 4.2% 4.2% 4.3%
8:30AM Aug Private Payrolls (k) Aug 118K 139K 97K
8:30AM Aug Non Farm Payrolls Aug 142K 160K 114K
8:45AM Fed Williams Speech
11:00AM Fed Waller Speech
1:00PM Sep/06 Baker Hughes Total Rig Count Sep/06 582 583
1:00PM Sep/06 Baker Hughes Oil Rig Count Sep/06 483 483
Monday, Sep 09
9:00AM Aug Used Car Prices MoM Aug 2.8%
9:00AM Aug Used Car Prices YoY Aug -4.8%
10:00AM Aug Total Vehicle Sales (ml) Aug 15.4M 15.8M
10:00AM Jul Wholesale inventories mm (%) Jul 0.3% 0.1%
10:30AM NY Fed Treasury Purchases 2.25 to 4.5 yrs (%) $80 million
11:00AM Aug Consumer Inflation Expectations Aug 3%
11:30AM 26-Week Bill Auction (bl) 76
11:30AM 6-Month Bill Auction 4.645%
11:30AM 3-Month Bill Auction 4.970%
11:30AM 26-Week Bill Auction (bl) 70
3:00PM Jul Consumer credit (bl) Jul $12.2B $8.93B
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This week's labor market data and Fed speeches solidified the case for the Fed to cut rates by at least 0.25% when it meets in 2 weeks.  With more and more buzz surrounding that rate cut, it's only natural for consumers to enthusiastically wait for the lower mortgage rates that are sure to follow. All too often, those who wait are surprised to learn that the only rate that's guaranteed to mov... READ MORE