Archive for May, 2015

Existing Home Sales

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Stephen Stanley at Amherst Pierpont Securities: Existing home sales slipped in April to a 5.04 million unit annualized pace, below expectations.  The NAR press release acknowledges the softer result but emphasizes that the main culprit is a lack of supply.  The NAR chief economist states that: “April's setback is the ...

Atlanta Fed GDP Forecast

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

The latest forecast of the Atlanta Fed in its model of GDP for Q2 is 0.7. The Bank produced that forecast on May 19 and it was unchanged from the previous forecast on May 13.

Ten Year TIPS

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Gennadiy Goldberg at TDSecurities ( an excerpt from a longer piece): TIPS Auction on Tap: Treasury will auction $13B in reopened 10yr TIPS today, with breakevens continuing to hover around recent highs as crude oil remains firmer and market-based measures of inflation continue to drift higher. While we see some ...

Initial Claims

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Stephen Stanley at Amherst Pierpont Securities: Initial jobless claims rebounded by 10,000 to 274,000 in the week ended May 16 but remained at an extremely low level by historical standards.  This was the 11th straight reading below 300K and 4th in a row below 275K.  The four-week average fell to ...

FX

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman: Dollar Softens, Sterling Shines - The FOMC minutes came in pretty balanced, as we expected - April retail sales in the UK jumped 1.2%, three times more than the market expected - The eurozone composite flash PMI slipped to a three month low of 53.4 in ...

Month End Extension

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Bloomberg: * Market has additional support from approach of month-end; Barclays estimated 0.13yr duration extension for Treasury Index, biggest May extension since 2009

What to Watch Today

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Bloomberg: WHAT TO WATCH: * (All times New York) * Economic Data * * 8:30am: Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index, April, est, 0.00 (prior -0.42) * 8:30am: Initial Jobless Claims, May 16, est. 270k (prior 264K) * * Continuing Claims, May 9 est. 2.231k (prior 2.229m) * 9:45am: Markit US Manufacturing PMI, May preliminary, est. 54.5 (prior 54.1) * 9:45am: Bloomberg Consumer ...

Secondary market Trading in Corporate Bonds Yesterday

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via Bloomberg: IG CREDIT: Communications Issues Led Trading on Client Flows 2015-05-21 09:55:10.55 GMT By Robert Elson (Bloomberg) -- Secondary IG trading ended with a Trace count of $15.6b vs $16.4b Tuesday, $17.5b the previous Wednesday. 10-DMA $14.9b. * 144a trading added $3.1b of IG volume vs $3.4b on Tuesday, $2.3b last Wednesday * Most active issues: * * TWC 4.50% ...

Various Opinions on FOMC Minutes

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

Via a fully paid up subscriber: Barclays: The April minutes show that FOMC members recognize that data on private spending for the first quarter were disappointing, with unexpectedly weak consumer spending and private investment, in their view. They note that the minutes attribute the weakness primarily to transitory factors, with some ...

Gas Pains

Thursday, May 21st, 2015

States and the Federal Government have always relied on gas taxes to raise revenues. With the advent of government mandated fuel efficient vehicles that revenue source is not as lucrative as it once was and states are exploring ways to raise revenues from drivers. This story chronicles Oregon's plan to ...