Mortgage backed securities rallied yesterday as stocks around the globe sold off as investors sought the relative safety of U.S. Treasuries and MBS. Continued fears of further conflict between North and South Korea and debt concerns across Europe are the cause of the “flight to safety”. MBS managed decent price gains yesterday but only 1 lender repriced for the better. Lenders are very slow to pass along price improvements but very quick to take away. To remind readers, as MBS move higher...

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Thanksgiving Holiday break.

We have no economic data on the calendar for today but we do have some high impacting reports coming later this week.

Tuesday brings us three releases with Consumer Confidence for November being the most potentially impactful. An optimistic consumer is more likely to spend money which benefits corporate profits and stocks; while a pessimistic consumer is more likely to save or pay off debt which benefits...

Mortgage backed securities opened higher and held steady for most of yesterday, but late in the day they did come under pressure giving back some of the earlier gains. Lenders passed along improved rate sheets yesterday morning and issued no reprices on the day. No surprises came from the FOMC statement which offered a long road ahead recovery outlook. At the open this morning, the downward pressure is continuing thanks to positive economic data out of Germany and easing of tensions between...

Not much to recap from yesterday. Mortgage rates opened the day improved from last week thanks to ongoing concerns over the Ireland debt concerns. Mortgage backed securities moved higher throughout the day but no lender felt the price gains warranted a reprice for the better.

Overnight, treasuries rallied in a flight to safety trade. First, North Korea without provocation launched artillery shells on a South Korean island killing a couple soldiers and injuring several more. ...

We had quite the volatile week last week in the interest rates markets. The entire week was filled with reprices for the better and reprices for the worse. All in all, rates held relatively stable but well above the record low rates we saw in early October. So far this morning, European debt crisis is creating a flight to safety where investors sell stocks in favor of the relative safety of bonds and mortgage backed securities. Lender rate sheets will be improved this morning.

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