Not Expecting Fireworks From The Fed

Not Expecting Fireworks From The Fed

Bonds had a mixed reaction to this morning's Durable Goods data with stronger internals offsetting a weaker headline. Sellers were in control for most of the AM hours, but momentum shifted with the 7yr Treasury auction. All in all, it was a solid showing in spite of the rebound in equities markets (something we only care about today because it was a huge consideration yesterday). Looking ahead, tomorrow's only notable agenda item is the Powell press conference at 2:30pm. The announcement itself can't really offer any tradeable news.  Even Powell would be hard pressed to shake things up too much considering the mildly positive cue from inflation data and the ongoing policy uncertainty as a counterbalance.  That said, one can never truly rule out a volatile reaction to a Powell presser, but the odds are certainly lower this time around.

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Not Expecting Fireworks From The Fed

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.5 98.90 +0.03 10YR 4.540% +0.006% 1/29/2025 5:00PM EST
Bonds were weaker overnight as markets calmed down a bit after yesterday's DeepSeek frenzy.  The 8:20am CME open brought in just a bit of buying, but there's been better selling since the 8:30am Durable Goods data.  The -2.2 vs 0.8 f'cast might look like a good outcome for bonds at first glance, but Durable Goods is a notoriously volatile report at the headline level due to major expenditures in certain sectors. That's why there's a separate component line item...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 7.06% -0.01% 15YR Fixed 6.48% -0.01% 1/29/2025
The average mortgage lender remained right in line with yesterday's levels despite a bit of weakness in the bond market.  Lenders who improved their rates yesterday afternoon were slightly higher.  Others were slightly lower.  This is a solid outcome considering the market motivations over the past 2 days.  Specifically, rates moved in concert with stocks yesterday as NVDA led a substantial sell-off.  Stocks bounced back today, and have now recovere...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Wednesday, Jan 29
7:00AM Jan/24 MBA Mortgage Applications Jan/24 -2% 0.1%
7:00AM Jan/24 MBA 30-yr mortgage rate (%) Jan/24 7.02% 7.02%
7:00AM Jan/24 MBA Purchase Index Jan/24 162.4 163
7:00AM Jan/24 MBA Refi Index Jan/24 520.9 558.8
7:00AM Jan/24 Mortgage Market Index Jan/24 220.0 224.6
8:30AM Dec Retail Inventories Ex Autos MoM Adv Dec 0.2% 0.5%
8:30AM Dec Wholesale inventories mm (%) Dec -0.5% 0.2% -0.2%
8:30AM Dec Goods Trade Balance Adv Dec $-122.11B $-105.4B $-102.86B
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Gasoline Stocks Change Jan/24 2.957M 1.5M 2.332M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Gasoline Production Change Jan/24 -0.044M -0.043M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Distillate Fuel Production Change Jan/24 0.028M -0.473M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Distillate Stocks Change Jan/24 -4.994M -2.1M -3.07M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Cushing Crude Oil Stocks Change Jan/24 0.326M -0.148M
10:30AM Jan/24 Crude Oil Inventory (ml) Jan/24 3.463M 3.2M -1.017M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Crude Oil Imports Change Jan/24 0.532M 0.184M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Heating Oil Stocks Change Jan/24 0.128M 0.068M
10:30AM Jan/24 EIA Refinery Crude Runs Change Jan/24 -0.333M -1.125M
11:30AM 17-Week Bill Auction (%) 4.190% 4.205%
2:00PM Fed Interest Rate Decision 4.5% 4.5% 4.5%
2:30PM Fed Press Conference
2:30PM Powell Press Conference
Thursday, Jan 30
8:30AM Q4 GDP Final Sales (%) Q4 3.3%
8:30AM Q4 GDP deflator (%) Q4 2.5% 1.9%
8:30AM Q4 GDP (%) Q4 2.6% 3.1%
8:30AM Jan/25 Jobless claims 4-wk avg (k) Jan/25 213.5K
8:30AM Q4 Real Consumer Spending QoQ Final Q4 3.7%
8:30AM Q4 PCE Prices QoQ Final Q4 1.5%
8:30AM Jan/25 Jobless Claims (k) Jan/25 220K 223K
8:30AM Q4 Core PCE Prices QoQ Final Q4 2.5% 2.2%
8:30AM Jan/18 Continued Claims (ml) Jan/18 1890K 1899K
10:00AM Dec Pending Home Sales YoY Dec 6.9%
10:00AM Dec Pending Home Sales (%) Dec 0% 2.2%
10:30AM Jan/24 Nat gas-EIA, change bcf Jan/24 -317Bcf -233Bcf
11:30AM 4-Week Bill Auction 4.265%
11:30AM 8-Week Bill Auction 4.250%
12:00PM Jan/30 15-Year Mortgage Rate Jan/30 6.16%
12:00PM Jan/30 30-Year Mortgage Rate Jan/30 6.96%
4:30PM Jan/29 Central Bank Balance Sheet Jan/29 $6.83T
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It turned out to be an intensely boring week for mortgage rates. The average lender stayed right in line with last week until moving slightly higher on Thursday and slightly lower on Friday.   This isn't too much of a surprise. Rates are driven by bonds and bonds are most easily influenced by major economic reports--something in extremely short supply this week.  Next week bri... READ MORE