Good Thursday AM from your Hometown Lender,

The only real data point today was unemployment claims and that came in as expected.

Bonds are selling off a bit from the better pricing we saw yesterday just on market fluctuation and a little on Europe’s economy getting a surprise uplift from the Paris Olympics, with the composite PMI reading for the area topping even the most optimistic forecast. Yesterday, The minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting showed the “vast majority” of officials see a rate cut in September as appropriate, while several saw a plausible case for a reduction at the last decision.

That sets up Chair Jerome Powell to usher in the next phase of the Fed’s inflation battle at Jackson Hole on Friday, when he’s expected to further underpin the view that a cut is coming. That narrative was also helped by preliminary revisions to US payroll numbers, which indicated the biggest markdown of workers since 2009 and that the labor market started moderating much sooner than originally thought.

Tomorrow is the biggest day of the week.

Powell’s Jackson Hole speech remains front of mind for traders. I expect him to set the stage for a rate cut in September and for successive cuts later on. If he follows the program, rates should improve a bit. Its always dangerous to float into big news, so I would not disagree with locking loans today.

Stay safe and make today great!