Archive for August, 2008

Opening Comments August 18 2008

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Prices of Treasury coupon securities have posted marginal gains in overnight trading. The benchmark 2 year note yields 2.38 percent. The benchmark 5 year notes yields 3.09 percent. The 10 year note yields 3.83 percent and the Long Bond yields 4.46 percent.The 2 year/10 year spread is 145 basis points. The ...

Sunday Evening Links

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

The FT always has great stuff and tonight is no exception. This first story outlines the significant maturities of debt which confront some of the major banks and the funding pressure which will accompany that process of raising equity or debt capital. The story notes the heavy issuance by JPM, ...

International Housing

Friday, August 15th, 2008

I found this one on an Irish financial site which I occasionally view. It is a compilation(in great detail) of the most expensive and most affordable housing markets around the globe.  If you want to live cheaply in the US it looks as thought there is affordable housing near military installations.

Lehman Catharsis?

Friday, August 15th, 2008

The FT reports that Lehman Brothers is in discussions with several counterparties as the troubled investment bank seeks to purge its balance sheet of an undesirable portfolio of commercial loans. Lehman values the portfolio at $40billion and the FT story notes that the negotiators have varying ideas about the worth ...

Some Closing Comments August 15 2008

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Prices of treasury coupon securities posted solid gains today in a lackadaisical and lackluster trading session. The dollar continues to trade with new vigor and its strength debilitates commodities. I think that there is a bit of a slow and delayed reaction as participants realize that if the lower energy ...

MBS

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Mortgages are about 6 ticks better versus the 5year Treasury note. Market participants report light volume and suggest that some of the buying is in response to the clobbered state of the market. So one can view it as technical, and not a move that imparts much information.Over the course ...

Corporate Bonds

Friday, August 15th, 2008

There was very little trading of cash securities in the corporate bond market and spreads have moved very little.The IG 10 is 134/135 which is about where it began the day. The real action is in the new issue market where American Express had the temerity to offer $2billion 5year notes ...

One Way to Celebrate the 1st Anniversary of the Credit Crunch

Friday, August 15th, 2008

There is a credit problem in CMBX which has led to a significant widening of spreads in that sector.Spreads are wider by 6 basis points to 8 basis points in AAA space and about 35 basis points wider in AA space.It gets very ugly in A and BBB space as ...

Morning Update

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Benchmark Treasury securities are posting solid gains and breaking through resistance levels. The 2 year note now yields 2.39 percent and the 10 year note yields 3.85 percent.Dealers attribute the lower yields to a confluence of bond friendly factors. There has been robust buying this morning by central banks in ...

MBS

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Mortgages are opening about 4 ticks bettter versus the benchmark 5 year notes. The level of activity, at this juncture, is muted.  Yesterday when I was not watching markets, SIFMA recommended that the new higher limit conforming loans which the GSE bailout bill permits should be mixed in TBA pools up ...