Morning Report: Rates falling on global growth fears

Vital Statistics:

Stocks are higher despite Chinese markets getting hammered on Coronavirus. Bonds and MBS are down small.

We saw a big jump downward in rates last week, both here and in Europe. The Coronavirus is triggering the “flight to safety” trade, which means investors sell risky assets like stocks to buy less risky assets like Treasuries. So far, we aren’t seeing major moves in the Fed funds futures, but this situation is still developing.

Stocks this week will probably be driven by developments in China more than the usual catalysts (earnings and economic data). We are in the heart of earnings season right now, with heavyweights like Google reporting tonight. Not much in terms of Fed speak this week, however we do have some important economic data with the jobs report on Friday.

Black Knight Financial estimates there are 9 million refinanceable mortgages in the market right now. By their numbers, 9.4 million borrowers could save an average lf $272 a month if they were to refinance, assuming 30 year mortgage, 20% equity and a 720 FICO. That adds up to $2.6 billion per month, the highest potential savings in 20 years.

Wells estimates that if Coronavirus takes a big bite out of global growth, we could be looking at low 1%s in the 10 year. They also think each 1% sell-off in the S&P 500 translates into about 4 basis points lower in the 10 year yield.

The homeownership rate ticked up in the fourth quarter to 64.8%, the highest level in the second quarter of 2014. I don’t know if we will get back to the peak levels we saw in 2005-2006 given that the financial conditions that spawned it aren’t present any more.

Author: Brent Nyitray

In the physical sciences, knowledge is cumulative. In the financial markets, it is cyclical View all posts by Brent Nyitray