Everything Winning on Combo of Trade Tensions, Fed Speak, and Earnings

Everything Winning on Combo of Trade Tensions, Fed Speak, and Earnings

Stocks have made a bit of a round trip since last Friday when Trump's tariff comments sparked a big sell-off.  Bonds benefited from that at the time.  So far this week, stocks have staged a solid comeback--especially today as upbeat earnings and Fed rate cut expectations provide support.  Bonds continue to rally on multiple Fed comments that focus on a weaker labor market underpin an increasingly clear rate cut picture.  Many market participants read yesterday's Powell comments as endorsing another cut in October.  Bonds mostly had this priced in, but the absence of bad news is good news--at least good enough for more modest gains this morning. That said, gains are tougher to justify from here with yields pushing the lower end of the range boundary. 

Market Movement Recap
09:54 AM

Slightly stronger overnight and holding gains so far.  MBS up 3 ticks (.09) and 10yr down 2.5bps at 4.003

12:05 PM

MBS now down 1 tick (.03) on the day and 5 ticks (.16) from the highs.  10yr up just under 1bp at 4.037

Latest Video Analysis

Yields Hug Multi-Week Lows After Powell Speech

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.0 99.66 -0.01 10YR 4.041% +0.012% 10/15/2025 2:26PM EST
MBS have quickly moved from the highs of the day to the lows with little apparent provocation.  The move is real considering the sympathy in 10yr yields, up from 4.096 to 4.038 in short order. Some of the jumpier lenders could be considering reprices, but it's a bigger risk for those who just repriced for the better.  Other lenders were generally seeing lower prices during rate sheet print times and are now only down 3 ticks (.09) since then.    READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.27% -0.04% 15YR Fixed 5.82% -0.01% 10/15/2025
Last week ended with mortgage rates dropping to their best levels since September 17th. Over the weekend, the underlying bond market maintained the gains seen on Friday afternoon, thus allowing most lenders to set rates at least as low as they were at that time. The average lender is actually just slightly lower today, thus making this another new multi-week low. The counterpoint is that the range is still relatively narrow, which each day during this stretch (roughly 4 w...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Wednesday, Oct 15
12:00AM Roll Date - UMBS 15YR, Ginnie Mae 15YR
7:00AM Oct/10 Mortgage Market Index Oct/10 317.2 323.1
7:00AM Oct/10 MBA Purchase Index Oct/10 166.0 170.6
7:00AM Oct/10 MBA Refi Index Oct/10 1168.0 1180.2
8:30AM Oct NY Fed Manufacturing Oct 10.70 -1 -8.70
12:00PM NOPA Crush Report (%)
12:10PM Fed Bostic Speech
12:30PM Fed Miran Speech
1:00PM Fed Waller Speech
2:00PM Fed Beige Book
2:30PM Fed Schmid Speech
Thursday, Oct 16
8:00AM Fed Barkin Speech
8:30AM Sep/20 Continued Claims (on hold, shutdown) (k) Sep/20 1930K 1926K
8:30AM Sep/27 Jobless Claims (on hold, shutdown) (k) Sep/27 223K 218K
8:30AM Oct/04 Jobless Claims (on hold, shutdown) (k) Oct/04 227K
8:30AM Sep/27 Continued Claims (on hold, shutdown) (k) Sep/27 1930K
8:30AM Oct/04 Continued Claims (on hold, shutdown) (k) Oct/04
8:30AM Sep Core Producer Prices YY (%) Sep 2.8%
8:30AM Sep Core Producer Prices MM (%) Sep -0.1%
8:30AM Oct/11 Jobless Claims (on hold, shutdown) (k) Oct/11
8:30AM Oct Philly Fed Business Index Oct 10 23.2
8:30AM Sep Producer Prices (%) Sep 0.3% -0.1%
8:30AM Oct Philly Fed Prices Paid Oct 46.80
8:30AM Sep Retail Sales (ex-autos) (%) Sep 0.3% 0.7%
8:30AM Sep Retail Sales Control Group MoM Sep 0.7%
8:30AM Sep Retail Sales (%) Sep 0.4% 0.6%
9:00AM Fed Waller Speech
9:00AM Fed Barr Speech
9:00AM Fed Miran Speech
10:00AM Aug Business Inventories (% ) Aug 0.1% 0.2%
10:00AM Oct NAHB housing market indx Oct 33 32
10:00AM Fed Bowman Speech
12:00PM Oct/10 Crude Oil Inventory (ml) Oct/10 0.12M 3.715M
12:45PM Fed Barkin Speech
4:15PM Fed Miran Speech
6:00PM Fed Kashkari Speech
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Rates have been very flat since September 19th, with the average lender holding inside a tiny 0.05% range through this past Thursday. To put that in context, on September 18th alone (the day after the Fed announcement), rates rose 0.15%. While we're not seeing anything nearly as brisk at present, Friday brought a bit of a departure from the recent monotony with rates finally breaking that narro... READ MORE