Market Update Monday November 10th 2008

Today, the bond market closes early and will be closed tomorrow in observance of Veterans Day.

The mortgage backed securities (MBS) have opened lower today driving mortgage rates higher. After the huge rally we had early last week, it appears mortgage rates are going to increase slightly.

This week will be slow as far as economic reports. The most relevant reports will be released at the end of the week, on Thursday and Friday.

Thursday we will receive the weekly release of jobless claims. Jobless claims are expected to show 480,000 claims and we also get the balance of trade which is expected to show a -$56.8b after last months -$59.1b reading.

Friday we get retail sales which are expected to show a decline of -1.2%, when excluding auto it is expected to show a decline of -.9%. We also will get on Friday Consumer sentiment which is expected to come in at 57.0.

The Treasury Department has several auctions this week which will add supply of debt to the markets which could prevent any advance to MBS.