Friday, June 29, 2012

Suprise! We have a Band Aid...

Mortgage bond prices remain sharply lower pushing rates higher following a surprise euro zone deal in the early hours Friday morning.

Euro leaders agreed to a plan to help lower borrowing costs which allows rescue funds to be used for sovereign debt purchases without cutting more spending. This was a sharp contrast to Germany's demands that additional assistance must come with additional cuts. Market participants were caught by surprise as no deal was expected from the meeting. Unfortunately in the short term, this lowers borrowing costs for troubled nations such as Italy and Spain. This also reverses some of the flight to quality buying of US debt instruments, which is what we are seeing this morning. However, this doesn't solve the debt problems the euro zone faces and more volatility is expected. We call this a BANDAID and only a short term move. Much bigger problems remain for that region.

Personal income up 0.2%, spending unchanged, both exactly as expected. Michigan consumer sentiment came in at 67.8 versus the expected 69 mark. The data is being heavily overshadowed by the euro zone developments.

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