Updated on May 10, 2024 10:09:00 AM EDT
Yesterday’s 30-year Treasury Bond auction drew a stronger demand from investors than Wednesday’s 10-year Note sale did. The benchmarks indicated a decent interest in the securities compared to other recent sales. Bonds improved after results were announced at 1:00 PM ET, leading to many lenders issuing an intraday improvement to rates. Unfortunately, this morning’s early selling has erased that improvement.
This week’s calendar came to a close today with the 10:00 AM ET release of Mays preliminary Index of Consumer Sentiment from the University of Michigan. They announced a reading of 67.4 that fell well short of the predicted 76.8 and was a large decline from April’s revised 77.0. The large drop means surveyed consumers were more concerned about their own financial situations than they were last month. This is good news for bonds and mortgage rates because waning confidence usually translates into softer consumer spending numbers that make up such a large part of the U.S. economy. The bad news is that this report doesn’t carry a high level of importance in the markets, preventing it from offsetting the overnight and early morning bond selling.
Next week has several highly influential economic reports scheduled for release, including two key inflation readings and a closely watched consumer spending report. There are also a large number of Fed speaking events scheduled, one of which is before congress and another includes Fed Chairman Powell. The week starts light with just a couple of speeches and no relevant economic data Monday morning. Look for details on all of next week’s activities in Sunday evening’s weekly preview.
©Mortgage Commentary 2024