Archive for January, 2009

Drudgereport

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

With great trepidation I use Matt Drudge as a source for economic news. However, he has a headline which states that China may balk at buying more US government securities. Not exactly a consumation to be devoutly wished for. There is no text attached to the story but in Drudgian fashion ...

Failed Bund Auction

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

The German government failed to cover a 10 year Bund auction today (Wednesday) and one reader mentioned this in a comment an unrelated post. Another long time reader and friend of the blog emailed me a link to an FT story on the topic. As the Treasury ramps up its offerings ...

Satire or Put-On…….I Hope

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Someone sent me a similar story so I googled one of the names. Plays like it is real but there has to be a punchline here somewhere. I am off to the gym.

Closing Comments January 07 2009

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Prices of Treasury coupon securities drifted lower today in spite of an early in the year regurgitation in the equity market. ADP reported that the economy shed nearly 700K jobs in December and that failed to give bonds an appreciable boost, either. The bugaboo for the bond market is supply. The ...

Money Markets

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

When I first began speaking with a friend of mine who trades money markets ,that market was in turmoil and the turmoil in the commercial paper sector had some fearing that the entire system would seize up and grind to a halt. Now sweetness and light has returned to that market ...

Corporates

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Corporate bonds remain firm and in spite of the weakness in the equity market the IG 11 is still 4 basis points tighter on the day. The new issue calendar is in a quiescent state currently with the only business on the docket is the pricing of the Budweiser deal. It ...

More Mortgages

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Mortgages are back in line with Treasuries as the Federal Reserve entered the market and purchased securities again today.

MBS

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Mortgages and swaps are opening about three basis points wider following gigantic gains the last several days. An eclectic group of investors have taken profits and there has been modest originator selling. Traders expect Fed intervention and anticipate spread narrowing on that event.

IG 11

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

IG 11 is opening 6 tighter at 188/191. For some perspective, the day that the FOMC announced the virtually zero percent funds target the index was trading around 260.

Morning Miscellany

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

I get quite a bit of correspondence from dealers and on much of it I have promised anonymity. I received one not this morning from a trader who thinks that the Federal Reserve has purchased nearly $10 billion in mortgages the last two days. In that time the spread to ...