Fed Beige Book
The second afternoon event was the 2:00 PM ET release of the Fed Beige Book. It didn’t give us any major surprises, but did reiterate conditions that are not favorable for bonds. For example, 10 of the Fed’s 12 regions reported economic growth had gained momentum during the six-week period ending April 8th. The report also showed consumers continued to spend and that there was little sign of inflation easing. In short, there wasn’t anything in the report that was particularly good news for the bond and mortgage markets. That said, it also failed to give us new information that was relevant enough to derail the bond rally that was already well underway.