| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1537.5 | -17.0 | -1.09% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2590.5 | -30.9 | -1.18% |
| Oil (WTI) | 92.26 | -1.0 | -1.07% |
| LIBOR | 0.279 | -0.001 | -0.36% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 82.43 | -0.245 | -0.30% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.70% | -0.06% | |
| Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA | 105.8 | 0.5 | |
| Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA | 104.4 | 0.4 | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 189.7 | 0.3 | |
| BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage | 3.59 |
They're beating the tape with the ugly stick after a dismal jobs report. The S&P 500 futures dropped from -4 to -16 on the report. The 10-year jumped on the news and is now yielding 1.7%. It is hard to believe the 10 year was above 2% three weeks ago. MBS are rallying as well, but not as much as the 10-year.
The March Employment Situation showed the economy added 88,000 jobs in March, well below the 190,000 estimate. February was revised upward to 268,000 from 236,000. The unemployment rate ticked down to 7.6% from 7.7%, but that was due to a drop in the labor force participation rate, which dropped .2% from 63.5% to 63.3%. This means that the size of the labor pool dropped as more workers simply stopped looking for a job. Long-term unemployed workers who are not actively looking for a job are not counted as part of the labor force. Wages were flat month-over-month and increased 2% year-over-year.
The recent rally in bonds pours cold water on the "great rotation" theory - the idea that 2013 would be the year when investors, particularly big institutional investors, change their target asset allocation and sell bonds to buy equities. So far, it seems like that investors are allocating money equally to both sectors - stock funds have taken in $79 billion while taxable bond funds have taken in $76 billion. Between the Bank of Japan's QE program, which is driving funds to the US, the Fed's QE program, and continued investor purchases of bonds, the expected 2013 bloodbath in the bond market may be held off for a while. Meanwhile, mortgage bankers are licking their chops thinking about another refi wave.
Chart: US Unemployment rate 1949-Present
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