Closing Near Week’s Best Levels

If Friday was going to offer any example of scheduled events causing movement in the bond market, it fell to Powell’s Jackson Hole appearance to do the heavy lifting.  On that note, everything went off in a logical and fairly ideal way.  Powell forcefully confirmed the Fed policy shift despite stopping short of giving any sort of indication on the size of the forthcoming rate cut in September.  Bonds rallied instantly upon the release of the Powell’s prepared remarks and, in the absence of a Q&A session, that was it for the day.  MBS and Treasuries hit their best levels a few moments later and both are heading out the door at almost the exact same levels.

Market Movement Recap

10:03 AM Very flat overnight and into Powell speech, but gaining ground now.  MBS up an eighth and 10yr down 4.7bps at 3.806

01:00 PM Stronger after Powell and flat since then.  MBS up 5 ticks (.16) and 10yr down 3.4bps at 3.82

03:38 PM Near the best levels with MBS up 9 ticks (.28) and 10yr down 5.1bps at 3.803