Archive for August, 2009

UBS Forecast on Payroll Data

Friday, August 28th, 2009

"For the August employment report, we forecast further fading of weakness in payrolls: a 215k decline after -247k in July and averages of -422k per month in Q2 and -691k in Q1. Although new claims show little improvement over the past month, total claimants (including emergency/federal ...

Bond Market Open August 28 2009

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Prices of Treasury coupon securities are registering modest losses  in overnight trading. The yield on the 2 year note climbed 2 basis points to 1.06 percent. The yield on the 3 year note also climbed 2 basis points and rests at 1.57 percent. The yield on the 5 year note increased ...

Forex

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

The dollar has cratered this afternoon versus the Euro. One analyst with whom I conversed suggested that it was a very thin market and that the break above $ 1.4280 triggered stops and dollar selling. One story cited a journalist who closely follows the RBA as a catalyst in that he ...

Bond Market Close August 27 2009

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Prices of Treasury coupon securities gyrated around today and made quite a bit of noise and are finishing with small changes. The yield on the 2 year note is unchanged at 1.05 percent. The yield on the 3 year note increased a basis point to 1.56 percent. The yield on the ...

Mortgages and VOL and SWAPS

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Swap spreads exhibited very little change today. Two year spreads are 1/4 basis point wider at 35 3/4. Five year spreads are 1/2 basis point wider at 37 1/2. Ten year spreads are 1/4 basis point tighter at 23 3/4. Thirty year spreads are 1/4 basis point less inverted at NEGATIVE ...

Corporate Bonds

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Corporate bonds are virtually unchanged today in featureless trading. The only excitement was a $350 million 6 year by A2/A rated Praxair. As one of my sources said about the company it is difficult to not like a company which deals in air. The company originally hoped to price at T+ ...

Seven Year Result Via CRT

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

7-year auction stops at 3.092% vs. a 3.090% 1-pm bid WI. * Dealers were awarded 36.7% vs. 33.3% new-norm (ex-guaranteed bids) * Indirects get 61.2% vs. 64.9% average of Jun/Jul. * Directs take 2.0% vs. 1.9% average. * Bid/Cover was 2.74 vs. 2.73 average of last two.

Seven Year Auction

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

First of  all I wrote in an earlier post that the first reintroduced seven year note auction was in March. In fact the first auction was in February and an alert commenter pointed that out. There are contrasting opinions on the auction today. One actively disseminated view is that the seven ...

Morning Miscellany

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Mortgages are about unchanged to swaps. The up in coupon trade continues to perform well. One trader commented that there are no natural buyers of 4 1/2s . Some participants are beginning to anticipate the end of Federal Reserve assistance and expect that the current coupon will jump 25 basis points. Vol ...

Forex

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Brown Brothers Harriman analysts have some interesting thoughts on the potential for yen strength over the next several weeks. "Japan has approved its own version of the US Homeland Investment Act that previously allowed US companies to repatriate foreign earnings at a much lower tax rate than the usual schedule. ...