Morning Report: Coronavirus fears hit stocks and lift bonds

Posted on January 27, 2020 by Brent Nyitray

Vital Statistics:

 

Last Change
S&P futures 3245 -50.25
Oil (WTI) 52.58 -1.62
10 year government bond yield 1.62%
30 year fixed rate mortgage 3.72%

 

Stocks are lower this morning as the Asian Coronavirus spreads. Bonds and MBS are up.

 

The upcoming week will have quite a bit of data – new home sales, the first pass at Q4 GDP, and personal incomes / spending. We will also have the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The current consensus is that the Fed won’t make any changes in policy.

 

As a general rule, when you get big moves in the 10 year bond yield, it takes a while for the MBS market to catch up. This means that you can see the CNBC talking heads discussing how much lower rates are, then run a scenario and come away disappointed. We are seeing something similar this morning, where the 10 year bond is up over half a point, while the Fannie Mae 3.5s are flat. Even the Fannie 2.5s are only up 3/16. That said, this is a good opportunity to wake up your borrowers who might have missed an opportunity to refinance.

 

Fair Issac (the company behind the FICO score) is making changes to its credit scoring model. The change will focus more on payment history and consumer debt changes and less on overall debt such as student loans or a large mortgage. As a general rule, installment debt is less of a factor than revolving debt (i.e. credit cards).

 

Global real estate markets are cooling down. “Across 23 countries, an index of inflation-adjusted home prices compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas grew 1.8% in the third quarter of 2019 from a year earlier, down from a recent peak of 4.3% in 2016, according to an Oxford Economics analysis. In 18 large economies, world-wide residential investment dropped on a year-over-year basis for four consecutive quarters through September, the longest stretch of declines since the 2008-09 crisis, according to Oxford Economics’ analysis of national accounts.” Foreign asset demand seems to be the driver, and it has become more correlated with other asset classes, particularly stocks. For the US, the effects will probably be concentrated primarily in markets like New York City and the pricey West Coast markets.

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