Archive for May, 2008

Corporate Bonds and a Visit to Lower Manhattan

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

I spent the morning in Manhattan down in the Wall Street area. The area still has a certain majesty and presence that I never experience when I am midtown. Maybe it is the narrow streets which lack regularity and sometimes intersect at bizarre obtuse and acute angles. There is a ...

Administrative Note

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

I will be leaving the comfortable confines of Long Island for a visit to the Big Apple today. So there will be no blogging for several hours until I return in the afternoon. Until then,peace, and have great day.

Some Opening Comments for May 28 2008

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Prices of Treasury coupon securities posted very small mixed changes in overnight trading. The changes, while small, are somewhat counterintuitive as the gains have come in the shorter maturities which face an onslaught of supply in the near term. Additionally, the conventional wisdom would hold that imminent index extension should ...

ABC

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Confidence plummets to 23 year low on this not widely followed index.

MBS and Swaps

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Mortgages are about unchanged to a tad better versus swaps today. There was some chunky buying overnight out of Asia and that has kept this sector well bid.Swaps are about 2 basis points wider across the curve. Heavy corporate issuance last week sparked receiving and that drove spreads tighter at ...

ABX

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Today is remittance day in ABX land and that information allows investors a clearer picture of the carnage strewn across the subprime highway. Preliminary data indicated that delinquencies on 06-1 tranches are increasing but at a decreasing rate. There is not quite enough data available to make a definitive statement ...

Treasury Update

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

The Treasury market is taking quite a drubbing this morning. The Long Bond is down about a point (and mixing metaphors) the yield on the 10 year note has climbed back above the 3.90 percent level.Several stories have been making the rounds to explain the large movement lowers in price. ...

A Little Corporate Bond Strategy

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

I receive a lot of research and literature from dealers via friends in the Street. Some (mostly from economists) I have blanket permission to quote freely with proper attribution. In that regard you will see HSBC, JPMorgan, and UBS economists intermittently quoted here, when appropriate. At other times I receive ...

Some Opening Comments May 27, 2008

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Prices of Treasury coupon securities have registered modest declines in a resumption of trading following the observance of Memorial Day in the US. The yield on the benchmark 2 year note has climbed by 3 basis reports to 2.46 percent. The yields on each of the other benchmark Treasury issues ...

Horse Several Miles from the Barn ……Let’s Lock the Door

Monday, May 26th, 2008

SEC is investigating the ratings agencies.  Better late than never.......I guess. Check out this quote. Where the heck were they in 2005 or 2006? Now they check on methodology!   (Excerpt below) "We sent letters to Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch asking for them to get back to us on aspects of ...