Archive for March, 2009
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
The Federal Reserve announced that their program of Quantitative Ease will begin tomorrow. They also posted a tentative schedule on their website.
Maybe reader Greg has a point regarding liquidity as the price action following the announcement was swift ugly and painful ( if you were short the market or long ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
The Agency market leaked wider today in quiet professional trading. Spreads moved tighter yesterday following a buyback by the Fed and spreads were under pressure today.
Dealers expect that Freddie Mac will announce a 2 year or a 5 year note tomorrow or a combination of each. Freddie's last deal was ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
The corporate bond market is a bit of a sleepy backwater today as the market digests past and current supply and anticipates future new issue offerings. One salesman stated that if it were not for the supply spreads would be 20 basis points tighter.
Financial sector names are about 5 basis ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Bond Market: Corporates
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Enthusiastic biddingby central banks produced a strong auction. The auction stopped 1.4 basis points rich to where the issue was changing hands in the brokers market prior to the auction. The average yield at the auction was 0.949 percent.
Foreign central banks bought just over 50 percent of the issue. At ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
There is some activity in the new issue corporate market today.
Retailer Staples is selling $ 500 million 2 year notes. The pricing talk is the market applying financial thumbscrews to the issuer. The talk is a coupon of 7 7/8 . That is a healthy concession to the risk free ...
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
In a little over an hour the Treasury will regurgitate $40 billion 2 year notes on which dealers and investors will risk increasingly scarce capital.
I think that this auction will go quite well. The WI trades around 0.955 as I write. It is nearly back to levels which prevailed when ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Swap spreads are opening wider across the curve today. Two year spreads are wider by 1 3/4 basis points at 61 1/2. Five year spreads are also 1 3/4 basis points wider at 65 1/4 basis points. Ten year swap spreads are 1 1/4 basis points wider at 29. Thirty ...
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
- 5yr Snr Bank CDS: BAC 287/297 (+5), CITI 530/540 (+10), JPM 162/172 (unch), WFC 210/220 (+5)
- 5yr Snr Broker CDS: GS 252/262 (+10), MS 355/365 (+10)
- CDS Index: IG11 225/226.5 (unch), IG12 185/186.5 (+1.5)
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on IG11 and IG 12 and Some CDS
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Prices of Treasury coupon securities in overseas trading are extending the losses achieved yesterday amidst the very powerful stock market rally which ensued after the announcement of the Geithner Plan to solve the problem of toxic assets on financial firm balance sheets. Some economic data released overnight was stronger than ...
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
In the previous post I mentioned the Accord between the Federal Reserve and the Treasury which established the independence of the Federal Reserve and freed it from the World War 2 responsibility of keeping interest rates low.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond is a wonderful resource when seeking answers on ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Federal Reserve Treasury Accord 1951