Friday - April 4, 2014, 11:55 am ET

Current Trend Direction: Sideways to lower

Float/Lock Bias: Carefully Floating - and watching carefully as prices struggle at the 200-day Moving Average

Current Price of FNMA 4.0% Bond: $104.22, +53bp

And the survey says...192K jobs created in March, as the country thaws out from the extreme harsh winter weather. That was just below the 195K expected, while January and February were revised higher by 37,000 jobs. The Unemployment Rate held steady at 6.7%.

Rounding out the report it showed that the private sector also added 192K versus the 205K expected. The Labor Force Participation Rate ticked up to 63.2% from 63%, while the U6 number fell to 12.8 from 13.1. The U6 measures the total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force and total employed part time for economic reasons (underemployed), as a percent of the civilian labor force. The average workweek came in at 34.5, hourly earnings at 0.0%. The hourly earnings was a bad number and the saving grace in the report was an uptick in hours worked.

The net of this, it was a goldilocks report not too hot, not too cold just right. And the market reacted with little volatility as well. The Bond did make some gains after bouncing off the bottom of the range lets hope prices can build on the momentum with the Jobs Report now behind us.

Start the day floating new transactions but be mindful that the Bond is now fighting a layer of resistance at a series of moving averages. You should also consider showing clients the chart below or simply use the Bond page. Prices are in the midst of a Falling Channel with Bonds drifting lower over time. If the Bond breaks below the nearby support, we will see rates tick up again.

Joe Shamie NMLS # 241432

First Choice Loan Services NMLS # 210764

First Choice Bank NMLS# 177877

866-970-3400 x-5135

jshamie@fcbmtg.com