Despite a stark absence of any truly inspiring events, interest rates have managed to put in two fairly serious days of movement. In today’s case specifically, there was an obvious intraday surge in the underlying bond market. While that surge wasn’t readily attributable to any data or news headline, it prompted many mortgage lenders to reissue lower rates in the afternoon. As conventional 30yr fixed rates move down from the 6.3’s toward the 6.1’s, this is a zone that can see larger than normal movement for reasons laid out back in early September (A Quick Note on Why Rates Seem to Drop More Quickly as They Approach Certain Thresholds). We’re beginning to see some of that slippery slope behavior in our rate index over the past few days as 6.125% comes closer to be being a more widespread top-tier rate quote. As ever, the real question is whether we continue heading in that direction or if we’re due a bounce. As ever, there’s no way to know ahead of time.  The level of improvement seen over the past week is already arguably surprising.

There were quite a few economic reports that would have been released this morning were it not for the gov shutdown.  OK, well only 3 notable absences, but there would have been a 3 week backlog of jobless claims in addition to typically spicier Retail Sales and PPI data. As it stands, Philly Fed was the only scheduled data released at 8:30am and it had no impact.  Instead, it was a glut of block trades (read all about them here) just after 9am that sent 10yr yields lurching higher.  With that, yields have rejected the 4.0% floor yet again and are now up modestly on the day.  MBS are following suit, down just under an eighth of a point. 

The next chair is likely to be named to a 14-year Fed governor term which opens up in early 2026.

America’s second-largest bank revised its net interest income target upward after what analysts called a “clean” third quarter.

More than 4,000 federal workers received notices Friday that their last day will be Dec. 9.

The head of the government-sponsored enterprises’ oversight agency also asked existing investors to review risk factors as officials eye a new public offering.

The megalender is accusing a nearby brokerage of skirting labor laws and avoiding significant overhead costs in misclassifying hundreds of employees.

Fairly Flat At Strongest Levels in Weeks

10yr yields ended the day a mere 0.1bp higher than yesterday (4.029 vs 4.028).  Call it “unchanged,” and no one will argue. In this case, an unchanged result means we’re holding at the best levels since Sep 17. MBS managed to add 2bps to yesterday’s close, and are also at 4 week highs. Volume was much lower than yesterday, but still elevated compared to most of last week. That’s interesting considering the narrow range and light volatility. As far as the modest mid-day bump in Treasury yields, there were no obvious triggers apart from arcane speculation surrounding liquidity conditions and funding market stress with traders pointing to a big take up in the Fed’s standing repo facility. This doesn’t really hold water due to the timing of the repo announcement. The only other thought is that we’ve often noted enigmatic volatility on tax deadline and adjacent days.  Either way, it was too small a move to merit any further investigation.

Econ Data / Events

NY Fed Manufacturing 

10.7 vs -1.0 f’cast, -8.7 prev

Market Movement Recap

09:54 AM Slightly stronger overnight and holding gains so far.  MBS up 3 ticks (.09) and 10yr down 2.5bps at 4.003

12:05 PM MBS now down 1 tick (.03) on the day and 5 ticks (.16) from the highs.  10yr up just under 1bp at 4.037

02:49 PM fairly flat after mid-day selling.  MBS unchanged and 10yr up 1.6bps at 4.045

Stocks have made a bit of a round trip since last Friday when Trump’s tariff comments sparked a big sell-off.  Bonds benefited from that at the time.  So far this week, stocks have staged a solid comeback–especially today as upbeat earnings and Fed rate cut expectations provide support.  Bonds continue to rally on multiple Fed comments that focus on a weaker labor market underpin an increasingly clear rate cut picture.  Many market participants read yesterday’s Powell comments as endorsing another cut in October.  Bonds mostly had this priced in, but the absence of bad news is good news–at least good enough for more modest gains this morning. That said, gains are tougher to justify from here with yields pushing the lower end of the range boundary. 

While the debate rages on about whether the three colors of candy corn taste different, at the other end of the tech spectrum, lenders are weeding out unused or out-of-date technology, reviewing new tools, all the while looking at bad developments in the IT world. (Speaking of tools, Ben Teerlink, Founder/CEO, MMI, will be interviewed today at 11AM PT on the L1 show.) AI companies are paying people to fold laundry in front of robots so they can learn to do household chores. It’s disappointing that we may never see a robot get tangled in a fitted sheet. Robots and automatic machines aren’t new (the French were cutting edge 250 years ago). But now Americans, including potential borrowers, are losing millions to scammers at crypto ATMs. Crypto scams drew a lot of people who wanted to make money and didn’t care about victims. They abound. Here’s how companies profit. JPMorgan Chase isn’t taking any security chances at its brand-spankin’-new $3 billion headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, so it’s requiring employees to offer up biometric data in order to access the building: biometric access is now required to enter the skyscraper at 270 Park Avenue. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week’s are sponsored by Floify, an industry-leading point of sale platform. With Floify’s new Dynamic AI feature, lenders can modify applications with no coding required and rely on AI to autofill key application fields, allowing borrowers to fill out only a few fields relevant to their needs. Hear Figure’s Anthony Stratis & West Capital Lending’s Arthur Greenbaum discussing the power of partnership, and why they’re excited about Figure’s new AI-powered DSCR platform.)