Phil Grossfield's Blog

GOING OFF THE GRID!  Tomorrow I’m off to Europe for a 10-day Viking River Cruise with my wife.  Did I mention we’ll be gone for 10 days?  Yes, being married to the Travel Mama has its perks and this is certainly one of them.  Oh, and did I mention we’re leaving the kids at home with Grandma and Grandpa?  The last time I had 10 days with my wife without children was more than 10 years ago.  I’m stoked!

We’re headed to Basel, Switzerland and cruising north on the Rhine River through France and Germany and ending in Amsterdam.  And, I suspect me and the wife will be the youngest, best looking, and in the best shape of all the passengers on-board!  And that will be comforting when I’m stuffing my face with fattening food and drinking lot’s of high-caloric beverages!

My only concern is being away from the kids for such a long time.  I’ve been away from them for over a week when my grandma died, but my wife was with them. The kids have never been away from both of us for more than a few days.  Although I’m concerned for my kids well-being, I’ve mainly been concerned about dying myself and leaving my kids without their parents.  Silly, huh?  You gotta live baby! 

My Market Watch (4/21/2015)

The 30-year Fannie Mae bond is -13bps since Friday’s close.  Generally a lender’s pricing worsens when the bond is sold off.  ALERT!  Although bonds are not down enough since rates were published to warrant a mid-day reprice for the worse, the technical signals are not great.  This could give Cap Markets a reason to play conservatively and issue a reprice.  If you were going to lock today, then I advise you do it now.

The bond is near a floor of support.  A floor is supposed to give traders a reason to buy and insulate us from a sell-off.  However, if the bond falls beneath the floor, then we could see a significant worsening in rates/pricing.  Again, if you intended on locking today, do it now.