Phil Grossfield's Blog

MOVEMBER IS HERE!  JOIN ME!   ARE YOU A PUNK? JOIN ME FOR MOVEMBER  

What is Movember you ask? It is an annual fundraiser for research of men’s Cancer afflictions such as prostate and testicular Cancer. Instead of running or selling cookies or something, all you have to do is do nothing. That is, don’t shave for 1-month. Grow a mustache or beard or both. Get people to sponsor you by donating on your behalf, or, better yet, get them to join us. But BE SCARED OF MY MANLINESS, PUNK. I know what you’re thinking, ‘how could I possibly compete with Grossfield’s overly masculine persona which is clearly expressed by an impressive growth of burly lip hair?” And your concern is well-taken. My manliness is unobjectionable. If I were you I’d be scared too. How could your punk-ass compete with me? In case you’re wondering, I’m callin’ you out. You got a problem with that? Good, then do something about it. Sign up and grow your mo. All you have to do is not shave! That’s it! Can you hack it? Are you a punk? COME ON! JOIN ME AND GROW YOUR MO

My Market Watch:   Pricing Improved! Bonds Up.  Fed Policy Statement Day.  The Fannie Mae 30-year bond has been trading up this morning, but not by much. Nonetheless, Capital Markets has improved pricing significantly in some coupons. Everyone is waiting for today’s Fed policy statement at 11a PST.

The Fed is not expected to make any changes to Quantitative Easing. QE is the Fed’s monetary policy of spending $85 billion per month on the purchase of bonds. By doing so the Fed has artificially created a booming mortgage business most of us has enjoyed for years now. Without going into detail, the Fed was expected to back off that policy, or Taper QE. But because of recent economic reports, and because of the Government’s recent ridiculous unnecessary shutdown, the Fed is expected to maintain the status quo, at least until 2014. This bodes well for bonds since it assures investors that pricing will stay low. Stay tuned…any statement to the contrary this morning would definitely throw the market into crazy-pants!