---

MBS RECAP: Super Sideways Bonds Add To The Mystery

Posted To: MBS Commentary

Until today, even though bonds were already in a sideways pattern, we would have to have given the nod to the uptrend in rates vs the downtrend (2 competing trends are colliding, forming a consolidation pattern). Today's gains complicated that assessment and left the pattern more or less perfectly flat. Seeing as how a 3 day weekend is on top, that's actually not a huge surprise, even if it's different than what we were expecting yesterday. One good that came of today's session was the bond market's abundant willingness to react to economic data that was likely to be the week's most important. Specifically, Retail Sales revisions painted a bleaker picture of the consumer sector--especially when viewing the data in "core" format (i.e. excluding autos/gas/food...(read more)