What is catching trader’s eyes this morning is China and their latest release of GDP. The plus 10.7% has the Dragon breathing fire and Wall Street worried about overheating.
Bonds, notes, and mortgage backed securities are doing quite well given the plus 100 point gain on the big board. 10 year notes off 7/32’s (yield 3.70%) and MBS off 3/32’s tell the tale of the tape. Technically, a series of higher highs and higher lows are developing on the chart. This is typical of bullish price action and will help to limit the downside (selling).
With trading volume starting to fall off a cliff, expecting the market to move much in any direction is possible but probably not in the cards. Next week will be worse.
Our view that risk is back in vogue, noting gold at record highs and stocks up 60%. Systemic risk/asset bubble risk is creeping back into the market as investors are forced into stocks and fixed income spread product. The Fed is on hold for at least another year and they (Fed) will need to see GDP growth of 4% to 5% before they will tap on the brakes (raise interest rates). We’d look for Austin mortgage rates to stay low well into 2010.
Currently, the 10 year note is down 20/32’s (yield 3.49%), MBS down 6/32’s, and stocks up 75 points on the big board. Stocks will hold the key as to where Austin mortgage rates go next. The current pattern (stocks) has been for sellers to lean on the market when it rallies (5 out of the last 7 days). We will want to watch the late afternoon trade (from 2:00 to 3:00 cst) to see if they can hold today’s gains. Failure to do so will improve mortgage pricing while a positive close, especially 50 points or more, will put additional pressure on our stuff.
The week ended with the terrific news that Existing Home Sales shot UP 9.4% in September to a 5.57 million annual rate. This was almost twice the increase the consensus expected and a nice boost coming off the slight drop we saw in August. Best of all, the inventory is now down to a 7.8 month supply, getting us closer and closer to the 6-month level of a normal housing market.
As predicted, Friday’s bearish close, along with this week’s record 137 billion in treasury auction supply has kept the market under pressure as we begin a new week. 7 billion in 5 year tips will greet the screen today, followed by 44 billion of 2 year notes on Tuesday, 41 billion of 5 year notes on Wednesday, and 31 billion of 7 year notes on Thursday. This could give the market a bit of indigestion. Traders talk about “no shows at the lows”, meaning that buyers will not show up even at cheaper levels. We believe that a strong overseas bid will continue and with most of paper being shorter in duration, the auctions “should” be much ado about nothing.
With most chart time frames in harmony, the future of interest rates will most likely follow the stock market’s lead. We’ll stick with our neutral call, keeping one eye on a stock chart and the other on MBS.
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