Stock Gains Creating Bond Pain After Flat Response to CPI

Stock Gains Creating Bond Pain After Flat Response to CPI

Heading into the session, we knew there was a high bar for CPI to have a positive influence on bonds with the future tariff landscape reducing the relevance of current price data, but the results were close enough to consensus that we might not have seen a big reaction anyway. Core CPI rose to 0.237 month over month, versus a 0.3 forecast. Annually, it was 2.8 vs 2.8 and unchanged from last month. Volume spiked modestly and bonds rallied for a few seconds before returning to flat levels. The meaningful movement has taken place after the 9:30am NYSE open with a classic risk-on trade. Friendly tariff headlines from China added to the case just after 10am.

Market Movement Recap
08:48 AM

MBS up about an eighth and 10yr down 2.4bps at 4.446

09:58 AM

Losing ground in the NYSE session.  10yr up 0.4bps at 4.474.  MBS back to unchanged.

12:09 PM

New lows.  MBS down 3 ticks (.09) and 10yr up 2.4bps at 4.492

Latest Video Analysis

Is All News Bad News For Bonds?

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.5 98.75 0.00 10YR 4.470% +0.000% 5/13/2025 4:21PM EST
Heading into the session, we knew there was a high bar for CPI to have a positive influence on bonds with the future tariff landscape reducing the relevance of current price data, but the results were close enough to consensus that we might not have seen a big reaction anyway. Core CPI rose to 0.237 month over month, versus a 0.3 forecast. Annually, it was 2.8 vs 2.8 and unchanged from last month. Volume spiked modestly and bonds rallied for a few seconds before returning to ...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.92% +0.00% 15YR Fixed 6.26% -0.01% 5/13/2025
Tariffs and trade policy have been a new and important consideration for the bond market for just over a month now. That matters to mortgage rates because mortgage pricing is primarily determined by bond prices.   The reaction function for rates is a bit complicated at first glance because tariffs can exert influence in opposite directions. To whatever extent trade policy results in lower economic growth, it would generally be good for rates, all other things be...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Tuesday, May 13
6:00AM Apr NFIB Business Optimism Index Apr 95.8 94.5 97.4
8:30AM Apr m/m Headline CPI (%) Apr 0.2% 0.3% -0.1%
8:30AM Apr m/m CORE CPI (%) Apr 0.2% 0.3% 0.1%
8:30AM Apr y/y Headline CPI (%) Apr 2.3% 2.4% 2.4%
8:30AM Apr y/y CORE CPI (%) Apr 2.8% 2.8% 2.8%
Wednesday, May 14
12:00AM Roll Date - UMBS 15YR, Ginnie Mae 15YR
5:15AM Fed Waller Speech
7:00AM May/09 MBA Purchase Index May/09 162.8
7:00AM May/09 MBA Refi Index May/09 721
9:10AM Fed Jefferson Speech
10:30AM May/09 Crude Oil Inventory (ml) May/09 -2.4M -2.032M
5:40PM Fed Daly Speech
Read My Latest Newsletter
The market is constantly making bets on where the Fed Funds Rate will end up for any given moment many months into the future. As such, that rate expectation is constantly changing. It will continue to change, and it will change in different ways for different time frames. For example the futures contracts that pertain to June's Fed meeting will indicate a different rate than the contracts for ... READ MORE