Posted To: MBS Commentary

It was a choppy day indeed on this last day of 2009. As per usual this week, much of that choppiness can be chalked up to much lower than normal volume. MBS and Tsy's tanked early with the 4.5 down all the way to 99-14 and the 10yr actually cracking the 3.9 mark. But by the earlier-than-normal end of trade, both had recovered to levels slightly better than their weakest recent closes. That puts the 4.5 at 99-27, down only 3 ticks on the day and the 10yr note up 4.3 bps to 3.835. Previous support had been 3.85. Over the past two weeks, we've tried hard to impress upon you the degree to which this end of year trading may be completely meaningless as far as what lies ahead in 2010. The holiday season makes it tough also. It plays a much larger role than you might think in affecting volume...(read more)