Heavy Overnight Selling But Inflation Narrative Remains in Doubt

Heavy Overnight Selling But Inflation Narrative Remains in Doubt

Bonds sold off again overnight with 10yr yields now challenging the 4.10% technical level in early trading. MBS are down another 3/8ths, roughly. And there's stronger correlation with higher oil prices and rising bond yields. So in light of our contrarian take yesterday, are we now forced to acquiesce to the "higher inflation/higher rates" narrative?  Not entirely. While there's no doubt that a certain contingent of smaller traders are drawing that conclusion, and while there's better evidence for it in some of today's charts, there remains a problematic reality in an even simpler chart. There's a tradeable security that measures market-based inflation expectations and it has shown almost no uptick in the past 2 days. Smart analysts are calling out this oddity. Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything to help us explain the scope of the sell-off, but we strongly suspect Treasury issuance implications are a factor as they relate to military spending.  Lastly, if we look at shorter-term TIPS, we can see slightly more inflation concern, but not enough to say "this is the main reason bonds are selling." That has us thinking about things like issuance implications from increased military spending.

Market Movement Recap
08:48 AM

Another overnight session with heavy selling. 10yr up 6.4bps at 4.099 and MBS down 9 ticks (.28).

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Bonds sold off again overnight with 10yr yields now challenging the 4.10% technical level in early trading. MBS are down another 3/8ths, roughly. And there's stronger correlation with higher oil prices and rising bond yields. So in light of our contrarian take yesterday, are we now forced to acquiesce to the "higher inflation/higher rates" narrative?  Not entirely. While there's no doubt that a certain contingent of smaller traders are drawing that conclusion, and while ...   READ MORE
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Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Tuesday, Mar 03
9:55AM Fed Williams Speech
10:10AM Mar IBD economic optimism Mar 47.5 50.1 48.8
11:55AM Fed Kashkari Speech
Wednesday, Mar 04
7:00AM Feb/27 MBA Refi Index Feb/27 1432.9
7:00AM Feb/27 MBA Purchase Index Feb/27 149.7
7:00AM Feb/27 Mortgage Market Index Feb/27 340.2
8:15AM Feb ADP jobs (k) Feb 50K 22K
9:45AM Feb S&P Global Composite PMI Feb 52.3 53
9:45AM Feb S&P Global Services PMI Feb 52.3 52.7
10:00AM Feb ISM Services Employment Feb 50.3
10:00AM Feb ISM Biz Activity Feb 57.4
10:00AM Feb ISM Services Prices Feb 66.6
10:00AM Feb ISM Services New Orders Feb 53.1
10:00AM Feb ISM N-Mfg PMI Feb 53.5 53.8
10:30AM Feb/27 Crude Oil Inventory (ml) Feb/27 2.2M 15.989M
2:00PM Fed Beige Book
2:00PM Feb Total Vehicle Sales (ml) Feb 15.2M 14.9M
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