Locking Bias

After moving down at the initial open, stocks have pulled back to even for now.  Intel and IBM were weighing on the indexes, but Housing Starts and Building Permits came in at a 4 year high.  This is giving investors a reason to move the stock market closer to all-time highs last seen in 2007.  mortgage bonds felt the pressure and have been pushed to the very lows of where bond prices have been since QE3 came to be.  Initial Jobless Claims come out tomorrow and this one has a bit more significance after last week’s lower figure.  Remember that last week’s number was exceptionally low because one state (rumored to be California) did not submit their data.  If mortgage bonds break below this range, rates will ratchet up another notch.  We are on the cusp of shifting to a locking bias.