“ONE WAY TO AVOID MISINFORMATION IS TO AVOID PROVIDING ANY INFORMATION.”
–St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole

And while that may be true, the markets are hoping for a bit more guidance from the Fed, including Fed Pres William “Everyone Into The” Poole.

The Bond market and home loan rates were fairly tame for the bulk of the week, but had picked up a little steam on Thursday following the US Treasury’s auction of $13 billion in five-year notes that afternoon. The Treasury auction showed strong foreign demand and heavy buying by large institutional investors – and anytime demand is strong, pricing moves higher; so as Bond pricing moved higher, conforming home loan rates improved.

Then along came Friday, when the Bond market and home loan rates gave back the ground they had previously gained. What happened? Things started off well on Friday morning, when the important, inflation-measuring Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) Index arrived inline with expectations. The Report indicated that inflation appears to be under control which is good news for inflation hating Bonds and home loan rates.

But on Friday afternoon, a parade of Federal Reserve speeches provided some contradictory comments that spooked the markets – apparently not taking Fed President Poole’s advice that sometimes no information is good information. San Francisco Fed President Janet “Always” Yellen raised her voice on inflation, renewing worries for a Bond market that hates inflation. Bond prices and home loan rates worsened in response, losing the ground they had gained the day before…and ending up quite close to where they began the week overall.

BOND TRADERS HAVE CERTAINLY BEEN WORKING FOR A LIVING, WITH ALL THE ACTION OF LATE…AND THE WORKLOAD IS SURE TO PICK UP IN THE COMING WEEK WITH THE ARRIVAL OF THE HIGH IMPACT JOBS REPORT. ALL THIS TALK OF JOBS AND WORKING MAKE YOU YEARN TO CALL YOUR OWN SHOTS AND JOIN THE RANKS OF THE SELF-EMPLOYED? IF SO, DON’T MISS THIS WEEK’S MORTGAGE MARKET VIEW.