Archive for June, 2008

Mortgage Foreclosures Via HSBC

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

HSBC: Q1 MORTGAGE DELINQUENCIES - TRENDS BAD * Trends in mortgage deliquency and foreclosure rates remain troubling with further incremental increases in Q1 * Overall delinquency rate rose to 6.4% from 5.8% in Q4 and is up 1.5ppt from a year ago * Prime delinquencies have risen 1.1ppts to 3.7% and suprime deliquencies are up 5.0ppt ...

SPread Product

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

It is a bit of a mess in some of the spread markets this morning. Swap spreads are about 3 basis points wider as real accounts have executed some chunky paying transactions in the belly of the swap curve.MBS is the culprit and those spreads are 3basis points to 4 ...

From the Herbert Hoover School of Economics

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Jean Claude Triche is head of the ECB and he notes that the ECB might raise rates at its next meeting. That is an interesting comment. The world is still poised not very far from the edge of the precipice and it seems to me that he might want to wait ...

Some Overnight Treasury Flow

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Some overnight Treasury market flow:Central bank buying of 2 years and short agencies. Real money bill buyers. Central bank buyers of 10 years (small). Japanese paying in the belly. Middle east buyers of belly.

Some Opening Comments June 5 2008

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Prices of Treasury coupon securities are virtually unchanged in overseas trading. The yield on the 2 year note has edged higher by 1 basis point to 2.47 percent. The yields on the other benchmark issues have manifested almost no change. The 5 year note yields 3.27 percent. The 10 year ...

Closing Comments June 04 2008

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Prices of Treasury coupon securities took a rather healthy tumble today as several multifaceted cross currents buffeted the markets. I will attempt to distill the price action into a very brief explanation. Traders were long following the credit fears about Lehman Brothers. We were at the top end of a ...

Bernanke At Harvard

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Here is a link to the Bernanke address at  Harvard. He is concerned about inflation but I would suggest that the speech is mostly upbeat. he chronicles the woes that the economy faced in 1975 and contrasts that to the present situation.  He notes that the oil shock this time has ...

Agency Market

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Agency spreads have leaked wider by 3 basis points to 4 basis points today. FNMA priced $4billion 2 year notes as well as $4billion 5 year notes. That supply weighed on the sector and while spreads elsewhere leaked wider, too, agencies lagged the swap market by a couple of basis ...

Butterfly Trade

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Loyal reader and fully paid up subscriber fatbear has requested that I expound on the "butterfly" trade which I have been following in my daily closing note.There is nothing fancy here and what you see is what you get. As we speak the 2 year yields 2.46 percent, the 5 ...

Corporate Bonds

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

The corporate bond market is an island of stability the morning. The IG 10 opened a little wider but is now a basis point better than last night's closing levels at 110.Lehman Brothers 5 year CDS is 255/265 after being as wide as 270/280. Merrill Lynch has recommended Lehman Brothers ...