Dueling Narratives Leave Yields Higher Ahead of Jobs Report

Dueling Narratives Leave Yields Higher Ahead of Jobs Report

In the overnight session yields followed oil prices higher, but notably, Treasuries continued to sell even after oil leveled off. Then during domestic hours, it was Treasuries' turn to level off while oil prices spiked.  From 9am to 2pm, oil rose nearly $5/bbl while Treasury yields remained completely flat. One way to justify this would be via safe-haven demand from heavy stock losses, but we continue not loving that explanation because it is even less reliably correlated than bonds vs oil. At this point, we're simply hoping that the jobs report helps restore some sense of normal market/data correlation, but at this point, anything's possible. 

Market Movement Recap
08:51 AM

Weaker overnight and little-changed after data. MBS down just over an eighth and 10yr up 3.6bps at 4.136

12:23 PM

sideways at weaker levels. MBS down 5 ticks (.16) and 10yr up 3.6bps at 4.136

02:35 PM

sideways at similar levels. MBS down 6 ticks (.19) and 10yr up 3.4bps at 4.134

Latest Video Analysis

Slightly Weaker Ahead of Jobs Report

MBS & Treasury Markets
UMBS 5.0 99.91 -0.06 10YR 4.111% +0.011% 3/4/2026 10:21PM EST
MBS are down nearly a quarter point on the day and just over an eighth of a point from intraday highs. Those highs arrived around the time that some lenders were issuing rates for the day.  As such, those lenders could be considering negative reprices. That said, current price levels were effectively seen around 11:45am as well, so if the lender in question didn't reprice then, there's little additional impetus for them to do so now.  Nonetheless, there's just a bit...   READ MORE
Today's Mortgage Rates
30YR Fixed 6.13% +0.06% 15YR Fixed 5.75% +0.02% 3/5/2026
Mortgage rates bounced back up today as the underlying bond market continued the selling trend seen on 3 out of 4 days so far this week. In the overnight hours, bond yields (which generally correlate with mortgage rates) moved higher in concert with rising oil prices.  That said, it would be a mistake to assume this is the only correlation in town. Oil prices continued to rise sharply during domestic hours, but bond yields remained flat--possibly benefiting from safe-...   READ MORE
Economic Calendar
Time Event Period Actual Forecast Prior
Thursday, Mar 05
7:30AM Feb Challenger layoffs (k) Feb 48.307K 108.435K
8:30AM Jan Import prices mm (%) Jan 0.2% 0.2% 0.1%
8:30AM Q4 Nonfarm Productivity QoQ Final Q4 2.8% 1.9% 4.9%
8:30AM Feb/28 Jobless Claims (k) Feb/28 213K 215K 212K
8:30AM Feb/21 Continued Claims (k) Feb/21 1868K 1850K 1833K
8:30AM Q4 Unit Labour Costs QoQ Final Q4 2.8% 2% -1.9%
Friday, Mar 06
8:30AM Feb Participation Rate Feb 62.5%
8:30AM Feb Average earnings mm (%) Feb 0.3% 0.4%
8:30AM Jan Retail Sales (%) Jan -0.3% 0%
8:30AM Jan Retail Sales Control Group MoM Jan 0.2% -0.1%
8:30AM Feb Non Farm Payrolls (k) Feb 59K 130K
8:30AM Feb Unemployment rate mm (%) Feb 4.3% 4.3%
10:00AM Dec Business Inventories (% ) Dec 0.1% 0.1%
1:30PM Fed Hammack Speech
3:00PM Jan Consumer credit (bl) Jan $12B $24.05B
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Mortgage rates finished the week at their lowest levels since August 2022. In outright terms, this is far from the record lows, but rates set another kind of record. Volatility is a common negative side effect associated with rates hitting multi-year lows. For example, back on January 9th, the MND rate index briefly hit 5.99% before bouncing back to 6.06% later that same day, and 6.21... READ MORE