Cautiously Floating

After digesting some mixed data, markets are starting the week relatively flat.  Retail Sales for September came in better than expected.  But that report includes higher gas prices, as well as an increase in electronics (thanks to the iPhone 5 introduction….).  The Empire State Index was below expectation, but more troubling was the lack of revision of the previous month’s excessively low report.  The rest of the week is full of economic reports as well, with CPI tomorrow, Housing numbers Wednesday and Friday, and Jobless Claims and the Philly Fed Index on Thursday.  mortgage bonds dropped off on Friday afternoon, which makes this the 3^rd Friday this has occurred.  It appears that the Fed packs up for the weekend and selling pressure overtakes the rest of the day.  Pricing is still at the bottom of the range for now, so we will start with a cautious floating bias.