The Veridian Blog

It looked like the recent slide in rates was coming to an end last week until Friday's Unemployment report surprised everyone with a lower-than-expected reading on new payrolls added.  The Labor Department posted May's employment numbers announcing that 431,000 new jobs were added to the economy, which was well below forecasts of 500,000, indicating that the labor market was not as strong as many had thought.  But even bigger news was the fact that 411,000 of those jobs were temporary Census workers, meaning only a net of 20,000 new permanent jobs were filled last month.  This points toward weak growth in the labor market, which is certainly good news for the bond market and mortgage rates. 

We have a light week of economic reports ahead of us, with the biggest potential report coming on Friday with Retail Sales.  This morning, equities are slightly lower and the benchmark 10-year Note is at or below 3.20%...