US DATA: New Purchase Mortgage Applications Resisting Higher Rates
Jan-29 12:10
- MBA composite mortgage applications dipped 2% last week (sa) after a flat week that consolidated a previous 33% jump at the start of the year.
- The latest decline was driven by refis (-6.8% after -2.9%) whilst new purchase applications only inched lower (-0.4% after 0.6%).
- New purchase applications stand at 63% of 2019 averages for some of their highest levels since mid-2023 vs just 30% for refis.
- The recent moves came as the regular 30Y mortgage rate held steady at 7.02%, broadly consolidating its recent rise to 7.09% for highs since Mar 2024.
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STIR: SONIA FIX - 30/12/24
Dec-30 11:58
| SONIA FIX - Source: BBG/ICE | ||
| 1M | 4.71060 | 0.0011 |
| 3M | 4.62970 | -0.0044 |
| 6M | 4.57510 | -0.0018 |
| 12M | 4.48610 | -0.0011 |
US TSYS: Tsys Unwinding Friday's Sale, PMI, Pending Home Sales Ahead Year End
Dec-30 11:47
- Treasuries are looking modestly firmer, near early early London session highs as rates recover from Friday's sell-off. The Mar'25 10Y contract trades 108-19 last (+5) vs. 108-21 high on decent volumes heading into year end: just over 175k at the moment.
- Average to small year-end duration extensions: US +0.07Y, EU: +0.04Y, UK -.02Y (Bbg)
- Tsy 10Y yield at 4.5951% (-.0303), curves mixed with 2s10s -.342 at 28.950 despite overnight Block steepener: +4,276 TUH5 at 102-22.75 vs. -2,592 TYH5 108-17.5 (0256:12ET); 5s30s +1.752 at 37.159.
- Projected rate cuts into early 2025 look steady to slightly higher vs. late Friday levels (*) as follows: Jan'25 steady at -2.8bp, Mar'25 -13.6bp (-13.3bp), May'25 -19.5bp (-18.5bp), Jun'25 -28.8bp (-26.5bp).
- Data on tap (prior, estimate): MNI Chicago PMI (40.2, 43.0) at 0945ET, followed by Pending Home Sales at 1000ET MoM (2.0%, 0.8%), YoY (6.6%, 7.9%). Dallas Fed Mfg Activity at 1030ET (-2.7, -3.0). Dearth of scheduled Fed speak until Richmond Fed's Barkin gives keynote remarks at a Maryland Bankers assn event on January 3 at 1100ET (text & Q&A).
- Treasury auctions $84B 13W, $72B 26W bills at 1130ET followed by 75B 42D CMBs at 1300ET.
EUROPEAN INFLATION: Portugal HICP Accelerates, Core CPI Also Higher
Dec-30 11:41
Portugal HICP rose to 3.1% Y/Y in December, its highest since June 2024 and notably above November's 2.7%. The national CPI measure also saw some acceleration, both on headline (3.01% vs 2.47% Nov) as well as on core (2.80% vs 2.61% Nov). Behind the higher CPI headline, Statistics Portugal identifies energy and unprocessed food as the predominant drivers.
- Specifically, energy CPI came in at 4.89% Y/Y (2.14% Nov, mainly driven by base effects as M/M this was +0.43%), while unprocessed food CPI was 3.42% Y/Y (1.95% prior, again partially a base effect as this was +0.50%M/M).
- CPI excl. housing accelerated just over 0.5pp, as headline, indicating that rental inflation saw a similar increase to the wider index (+0.10% M/M).
- For reference, Portugal contributes 2.4% to the overall Eurozone HICP 2024 basket.
- December flash inflation data for Ireland will be released tomorrow, with the other major releases of the December round out next week. Belgium HICP already came in at 4.4% Y/Y, decelerating four tenths vs November, while Spain HICP surprised consensus to the upside earlier today (2.8% Y/Y vs 2.6% cons).
