Bonds Close Out Epic Week of Resilience With Friendly Data

Bonds Close Out Epic Week of Resilience With Friendly Data

Friday was a logically friendly day thanks to slightly lower CPI. But no matter what happened on any of the other 4 days, this week was all about bonds ending up at much stronger levels in spite of a jobs report that should have sent rates higher on Wednesday. Ironclad justification remains impossible, but the leading theory involves heavy liquidation mode in stocks/commodities on Thursday. Holiday weekend positioning could also be a factor. As such, we'll learn a lot more next Tuesday--especially if stocks find a reason to stage a big bounce. 

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Bonds Close Out Epic Week of Resilience With Friendly Data

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.0 100.46 +0.13 10YR 4.024% -0.024% 2/17/2026 12:33AM EST
CPI came in just a hair below forecasts at the headline level and right in line with forecasts at the core level (unrounded .295 vs .300). Shelter components continued lower with Owners' Equivalent Rent at 0.220 (basically a cycle low if we ignore the low quality data collection surrounding the government shutdown). The only potential hurdle for the bond market to clear was the surge in the supercore reading to the highest levels in a year. Despite a fair amount of attention ...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.04% -0.06% 15YR Fixed 5.61% -0.08% 2/13/2026
When the administration announced that Fannie and Freddie would be buying mortgage-backed securities in early January, rates fell sharply to the lowest levels in more than 3 years. After a moderate rebound the following week, we've been holding mostly steady in a range that was 0.1-0.2 above those long-term lows. The past two days have brought enough improvement that the average lender is once again at levels that are close enough to the long-term lows seen on January 9th a...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Tuesday, Feb 17
8:15AM ADP Employment Change Weekly 6.5K
8:30AM Feb NY Fed Manufacturing Feb 6 7.70
10:00AM Feb NAHB housing market indx Feb 38 37
12:45PM Fed Barr Speech
2:30PM Fed Daly Speech
Wednesday, Feb 18
12:00AM Roll Date - Ginnie Mae 30YR
7:00AM Feb/13 MBA Purchase Index Feb/13 161.5
7:00AM Feb/13 MBA Refi Index Feb/13 1284.6
7:00AM Feb/13 Mortgage Market Index Feb/13 329.9
8:30AM Dec Housing starts number mm (ml) Dec 1.33M
8:30AM Dec Durable goods (%) Dec -2% 5.3%
8:30AM Dec Core CapEx (%) Dec 0.5% 0.7%
9:15AM Jan Industrial Production (%) Jan 0.4% 0.4%
1:00PM 20-Yr Bond Auction (bl) 16
1:00PM Fed Bowman Speech
2:00PM FOMC Minutes
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The bond market drives changes in interest rates. Among bond traders, it's no secret that the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) jobs report is the most consequential monthly economic data. But this time around, the reaction defied expectations. Specifically, if you were to tell market participants the results ahead of time (i.e. 130k jobs created versus a forecast of 70k, and a 4.3% unemploymen... READ MORE