Still in The Range as Bonds Wait For Bigger Influences

Still in The Range as Bonds Wait For Bigger Influences

Bonds were noticeably weaker to start the new month with most of the losses arriving after the start of European trading overnight. Indeed there was strong correlation between EU sovereign debt and Treasuries--especially at the EU opening bell. Some news stories suggested bonds were selling off due to news that an appeals court ruling that Trump tariffs were illegal, but that news was out on Friday night. If it were a compelling bond market motivation, it would have been more visible in the overnight trading that took place before the EU open. Either way, yields remained well within the prevailing range and it continues to be this week's big-ticket econ data that has the best chance of challenging that range for better or worse. 

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Still in The Range as Bonds Wait For Bigger Influences

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.5 100.57 +0.14 10YR 4.219% -0.040% 9/3/2025 5:00PM EST
The Tuesday after Labor Day can have a mind of its own when it comes to financial markets--especially if it also happens to be the trading day of the month. Last week's month-end trading environment gave bonds an artificial, temporary boost and some of this morning's weakness could simply be due to the type of reversal often seen at the start of a new month. On more specific notes, EU inflation came in higher than expected and bond yields in several EU countries are at long-t...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.49% -0.04% 15YR Fixed 5.85% -0.03% 9/3/2025
Mortgage rates are based on bonds and bonds can do funny things on the first and last trading days of any given month. One of the most common "funny things" involves a decent amount of market movement for no apparent reason. In truth, there are always reasons, but on the first/last trading day of the month, they aren't the normal reasons (such as a reaction to economic data), and they're too esoteric to merit an explanation for the amount of movement seen today. There are ...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Wednesday, Sep 03
7:00AM Aug/29 MBA Purchase Index Aug/29 158.7 163.8
7:00AM Aug/29 MBA Refi Index Aug/29 902.5 894.1
9:00AM Fed Musalem Speech
10:00AM Jul Factory orders mm (%) Jul -1.3% -1.4% -4.8%
10:00AM Jul JOLTs Job Quits (ml) Jul 3.208M 3.142M
10:00AM Jul USA JOLTS Job Openings (ml) Jul 7.181M 7.4M 7.437M
1:30PM Fed Kashkari Speech
2:00PM Fed Beige Book
6:00PM Aug Total Vehicle Sales (ml) Aug 16.1M 16.1M 16.4M
Thursday, Sep 04
7:30AM Aug Challenger layoffs (k) Aug 85.979K 62.075K
8:15AM Aug ADP jobs (k) Aug 54K 65K 104K
8:30AM Jul Trade Gap (bl) Jul $-78.3B $-75.7B $-60.2B
8:30AM Q2 Unit Labour Costs QoQ Final Q2 1% 1.2% 6.9%
8:30AM Aug/23 Continued Claims (k) Aug/23 1940K 1960K 1954K
8:30AM Aug/30 Jobless Claims (k) Aug/30 237K 230K 229K
9:45AM Aug S&P Global Services PMI Aug 54.5 55.4 55.7
9:45AM Aug S&P Global Composite PMI Aug 54.6 55.4 55.1
10:00AM Aug ISM Services Employment Aug 46.5 46.4
10:00AM Aug ISM Biz Activity Aug 55.0 53 52.6
10:00AM Aug ISM Services New Orders Aug 56.0 50.3
10:00AM Aug ISM Services Prices Aug 69.2 69.9
10:00AM Aug ISM N-Mfg PMI Aug 52.0 51 50.1
12:00PM Aug/29 Crude Oil Inventory (ml) Aug/29 2.415M -1.8M -2.392M
12:05PM Fed Williams Speech
7:00PM Fed Goolsbee Speech
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This past week was a classic placeholder for mortgage rates. With no big-ticket reports on the calendar, volatility stayed about as low as it gets. But even without fireworks, the market quietly added up small, steady improvements each day, ultimately pushing rates to their lowest levels since October 3rd, 2024. Each move was subtle. Rates never moved more than 0.02% on any given day. That... READ MORE