April 22, 2020 Headlines

A modest improvement in risk sentiment this morning, is pushing equity futures higher and Treasury prices lower. A slight increase in oil prices is contributing to the more positive tone, as well as an article suggesting the European Central Bank may loosen its collateral criteria to accept junk bonds. The FHFA announced yesterday that servicers will now only have to advance four months of principal and interest payments for GSE-guaranteed loans in COVID-19-related forbearance. After the four-month period, the loan would still remain in the MBS pool during the forbearance plan, and the GSEs would take over P&I advancing. The FHFA had been under a great deal of pressure from the MBA and Congressional leaders to provide relief to mortgage servicers, which was the likely motivation for yesterday’s announcement. On a somewhat related note, the MBA Mortgage Applications Index  fell 0.3% for the weekend ended April 17, including a 0.8% decline in refinance applications. The refi applications index has been more volatile in recent weeks (+10% the prior week and -19.4% two weeks prior), and average 30-year fixed rate for the period was 3.45% according to the MBA survey, unchanged from the prior week.

Jason Haley
Chief Investment Officer

DateEventSurveyActualPriorRevised
4/20/2020Chicago Fed Nat Activity Index-3-4.190.160.06
4/21/2020Existing Home Sales5.25m5.27m5.77m5.76m
4/21/2020Existing Home Sales MoM-9.00%-8.50%6.50%6.30%
4/22/2020MBA Mortgage Applications—-0.30%7.30%—
4/22/2020FHFA House Price Index MoM0.30%0.70%0.30%0.50%
4/23/2020Initial Jobless Claims4500k—5245k—
4/23/2020Continuing Claims17000k—11976k—
4/23/2020Bloomberg Economic Expectations——46.5—
4/23/2020Bloomberg Consumer Comfort——44.5—
4/23/2020Markit US Manufacturing PMI35—48.5—
4/23/2020Markit US Services PMI30—39.8—
4/23/2020Markit US Composite PMI——40.9—
4/23/2020New Home Sales640k—765k—
4/23/2020New Home Sales MoM-16.30%—-4.40%—
4/23/2020Kansas City Fed Manf. Activity-37—-17—
4/24/2020Durable Goods Orders-12.00%—1.20%—
4/24/2020Durables Ex Transportation-6.50%—-0.60%—
4/24/2020Cap Goods Orders Nondef Ex Air-6.70%—-0.90%—
4/24/2020Cap Goods Ship Nondef Ex Air-7.00%—-0.80%—
4/24/2020U. of Mich. Sentiment67.9—71—
4/24/2020U. of Mich. Current Conditions——72.4—
4/24/2020U. of Mich. Expectations——70—
4/24/2020U. of Mich. 1 Yr Inflation——2.10%—
4/24/2020U. of Mich. 5-10 Yr Inflation——2.50%—

 

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