Posted To: MBS Commentary
Except for the very end of the trading session, today was all about domestic economic data and all about the logical bond market weakness that followed it. Every report was against us , with the two biggest offenders hitting hard at 8:30am. Core CPI rose to 2.3 from 2.2 previously and Retail Sales crushed the +0.1 forecast to come in at +0.6 percent (granted, there was a -0.3 revision to last month, which offset some of the damage we might have otherwise seen). Bond markets had been flat until that point and promptly began screaming higher. The rest of the morning’s economic data didn’t raise any compelling counterarguments although nothing hit as hard as the early data . Consumer Sentiment was actually weaker at the headline level, which should have been helpful, but the inflation…(read more )