Market Analysis

Mortgage-backed securities (MBS) issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are flat with a slight positive bias this morning while the 10 Yr US Treasury note is slightly negative after posting gains over the past two weeks. Stocks are up with the Dow currently up 78 points to the 10,291 level.

Below is a recap of this week’s economic calendar:

Monday, August 23, 2010

• No key economic data released
• US Treasury auctions $7 billion of 30 year inflation indexed securities

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

• July Existing Home Sales – expected annualized pace of 4.72 million, down from June’s annualized pace of 5.37 million.
• US Treasury auctions $37 billion of 2-year notes

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

• July Durable Goods Orders – expected up 3% vs down 1.2% in June and excluding the transportation component expected up .5% vs down .9% in June.
• July New Home Sales – expected annualized pace of 334,000 vs annualized pace of 330,000 in June.
• US Treasury auctions $36 billion of 5-year notes

Thursday, August 26, 2010

• Initial Jobless Claims Week Ended 8/21 – expected down 15,000 to 485,000 from 500,000 the prior week.
• Continuing Jobless Claims Week ended 8/14 – expected up to 4.515 million from 4.478 million the prior week.
• US Treasury auctions $27 billion of 7-year notes

Friday, August 27, 2010

• 2^nd Estimate 2^nd Qtr GDP – expected to be revised down to 1.4% growth vs initial estimates for 2.4% growth.
• University of Michigan Final August Consumer Sentiment Index – expected 70.0 final reading vs 67.8 in July and an initial reading of 69.6 for the August figure earlier this month.