Moody's Pulls Pin And Walks Away With 10 Minutes Left to Trade

Moody's Pulls Pin And Walks Away With 10 Minutes Left to Trade

Bonds began the day stronger after a gentle overnight rally. Selling commenced at 9:30am for the 4th day in a row and picked up slightly after the highest reading on inflation expectations since 1981. Even then, losses were modest at best and bonds were generally flat/unchanged until the very end of the day. With carefully considered timing, Moody's pulled the pin and walked away with 10 minutes left to trade. The grenade in this case was a downgrade of the US credit rating.  This move is certainly in the ratings agencies' playbooks amid congressional budget battles, but most notably all the way back in 2011. Also of note, Moody's was the last of the big 3 to have the US at a triple A rating, so while it's not the craziest thing that ever happened to bonds, the timing made for some last minute selling ahead of the 5pm cut-off. 

Market Movement Recap
10:04 AM

modestly stronger overnight and slowly eroding so far.  MBS up 2 ticks (.06) and 10yr down 2.8bps at 4.403

02:06 PM

Sideways at weakest levels.  MBS down 1 tick (.03) and 10yr up about half a bp at 4.437

05:03 PM

additional weakness after Moody's downgrade.  MBS down a quarter point on the day and 10yr up roughly 5bps at 4.479

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Moody's Pulls Pin And Walks Away With 10 Minutes Left to Trade

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.5 98.65 -0.24 10YR 4.478% +0.047% 5/16/2025 5:00PM EST
This news isn't as big as it may sound but Moody's just downgraded the US credit rating to Aa1 from AAA. In a statement, Moody's said "we recognize the US' significant economic & financial strengths, and believe these no longer fully counterbalance decline in fiscal metrics" and "we do not believe material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending to result from the current fiscal proposals under consideration." Moves like this aren't unheard of surrounding some of t...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.92% -0.02% 15YR Fixed 6.26% -0.05% 5/16/2025
The average top tier 30yr fixed rate is set to end the week just a few hundredths of a percent higher than last Friday at 6.92%.  That's a victory--albeit a small one--after hitting 6.99% on Wednesday. As always, these rates refer to an index representing broad industry averages for best-case scenarios. Individual lenders and scenarios can be quite a bit different for a variety of reasons. Today's rate change is a bit misleading because it left us in slightly better sh...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Friday, May 16
8:30AM Apr Building Permits (ml) Apr 1.412M 1.450M 1.467M
8:30AM Apr Export prices mm (%) Apr 0.1% -0.5% 0%
8:30AM Apr Import prices mm (%) Apr 0.1% -0.4% -0.1%
8:30AM Apr Housing starts number mm (ml) Apr 1.361M 1.37M 1.324M
10:00AM May Sentiment: 1y Inflation (%) May 7.3% 6.5%
10:00AM May U Mich conditions May 57.6 59.6 59.8
10:00AM May Sentiment: 5y Inflation (%) May 4.6% 4.4%
10:00AM May Consumer Sentiment (ip) May 50.8 53.4 52.2
Monday, May 19
12:00AM Roll Date - Ginnie Mae 30YR
8:30AM Fed Bostic Speech
8:45AM Fed Jefferson Speech
8:45AM Fed Williams Speech
10:00AM Apr CB Leading Index MoM (%) Apr -0.8% -0.7%
1:15PM Fed Logan Speech
1:30PM Fed Kashkari Speech
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The week began with some challenges for the rate market and a bounce for stocks following the US/China trade deal over the weekend. Stocks held their gains, but rates managed to move back down by the end of the week.  Thursday was the only important day in that regard with rates benefiting from weaker Retail Sales data and a well-received speech from Fed Chair Powell. Friday began on an ev... READ MORE