Morning Report - Here's Janet!

Vital Statistics:

	Last	Change	Percent
S&P Futures	1782.4	3.7	0.21%
Eurostoxx Index	3041.1	20.0	0.66%
Oil (WTI)	93.35	-0.5	-0.56%
LIBOR	0.238	-0.002	-0.89%
US Dollar Index (DXY)	81.08	0.156	0.19%
10 Year Govt Bond Yield	2.71%	0.01%
Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA	105.4	0.4
Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA	104.5	0.1
RPX Composite Real Estate Index	200.7	-0.2
BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage	4.38

Markets are higher this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are flattish. 

Wal-Mart cut its profit forecast due to the weaker economy at the lower end of the income spectrum and increased competition from dollar stores.

Finally, some economic data, although nothing market-moving. Initial Jobless Claims came in at 339k, a touch higher than the 330k forecast. Productivity was 1.9% vs Street expectaions of 2.2% and unit labor costs fell .6%. Later on today, we will get the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort index. Philly Fed President Charles Plosser will be speaking momentarily - he is a hawk so bonds could sell off on his comments.

Janet Yellen is scheduled to appear in front of the Senate Banking Committee today. Here are her prepared remarks. First thing off the bat, no mention of QE or tapering. For the most part nothing in the statement suggests any sort of change in direction from the Bernanke Fed. She intends to continue with the policy of keeping the markets informed of the Fed's thinking, and believes that the dual mandate requires her to boost inflation if it is too low. She is committed to making sure the too big to fail banks are regulated, while at the same time she wants to lower the regulatory burden on small community banks. These sort of hearings are more or less dog and pony shows for the benefit of politicians, not public consumption. They don't ask questions, they make statements. I don't expect anything market-moving to come out of this, but just be aware. While there are a few people who want to use her nomination as leverage to advance other items, she should be confirmed easily. 

Abby Joseph Cohen loves stocks right here..

Bidding wars on the West Coast are beginning to wane as inventory builds. Expect to see this reflected in the home price indices going forward. This could be a welcome development for the mortgage industry as professionals exit and real buyers (the ones who will need a mortgage) enter.