Archive for February, 2008

Starts or Non Starts As the Case May Be

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Housing Starts and Building Permits printed pretty much as expected. According to economists at HSBC starts bounced off the December lows in the Northeast and Midwest but tumbled in the South and West. Anyone hoping for some  life from this sector will need to wait for another lunar cycle to pass.

CPI

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

 CPI increased by a greater than expected 0.4 percent in January ( consensus 0.3) and ex food and energy it posted a 0.3 percent gain( consensus 0.2 ). The gains were pretty much across the board and in some everyday categories: apparell 0.4; transportation 0.5; medical care 0.5; personal computers ...

Overnight Trading Flows

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

 Some overnight trading flows: Asian accounts and hedge funds were better buyers of 2 years. Hedge funds and banks sold 10years. Supra sovereigns were better buyers of the 2 year point on the agency curve. Central banks bought the belly.

SIV RIP?

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Another one may bite the dust.

Opening Comments

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

 Prices of Treasury coupon securities are posting modest gains in overseas trading as weakness in global equities prompts a shift by investors to the relative safety of the fixed income markets. Asian and Austrlian markets slid between 2 percent and 3 percent and European markets are currently posting declines of ...

Some Overnight News

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Credit and oil. Not the Weimar Republic but keep the wheelbarrow near! Another bank strikes somber note.

Tokyo Tumbles Tonight

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

Nikkei slides on credit concerns.

Cognotive Dissonance

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

I could not agree more with this insightful piece from the FT

MBS Morass

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

 A market participant just pointed out to me that the current coupon mortgage rate is currently 5.76 percent. On the date of the first Fed ease in September 2007 it was trading at 5.90 percent. They have cut rates a total of 225 basis points and lowered the mortgage rate ...

Closing Comments

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

 Prices of Treasury coupon securities plummeted today as a variety of factors combined to motivate aggressive selling by speculators and end users. I am not sure if I can create an accurate hierarchy of concerns but as a starting point many spoke with concern about the actions of the underfunded ...