Steer clear of the magnetar lighthouse
July 20, 2022
-In the US red eurodollars were the weakest part of the curve, closing -10. On the treasury curve it was the 5-yr, ending up 7.5 bps to 3.148%. Tens rose 5.2 to 3.015% as stocks rallied on news that Nordstream would come back on line as scheduled. ERU2 (front Sept euribor) made a new low yesterday at 9911.5 as the ECB discussed a 50 bp hike for tomorrow’s meeting. Curve was flatter with 2/10 ending at -21.4, just a couple of bps off the low for the cycle.
–Existing Home Sales today expected 5.36m from 5.41m. New Home Sales were weaker than expected yesterday as relatively high mortgage rates bite. Stocks closed at new highs for the month, punctuated by NFLX, but overnight gains appear to have subsided somewhat. Commodities like copper have only tepidly embraced the rally, not exactly endorsing the narrative of stocks rallying due to “diminished recession fears”.
Astronomers have detected an unusual radio signal from a far-off galaxy, according to MIT officials.
The signal is a fast radio burst, an intensely strong burst of radio waves, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in a statement. Usually, the mysterious signals last for a few milliseconds at most. But this one lasted up to three seconds and included bursts of radio waves every 0.2 seconds, in a clear periodic pattern.
“There are not many things in the universe that emit strictly periodic signals,” Michilli said. “Examples that we know of in our own galaxy are radio pulsars and magnetars, which rotate and produce a beamed emission similar to a lighthouse. And we think this new signal could be a magnetar or pulsar on steroids.”
