alle 19 parla Mosca e farà previsioni sull'economia col pendolino
Fed Insight
Investors may get some insight into the central bank's outlook in the wake of Hurricane Katrina when Chicago Fed President Michael Moskow gives a speech on the economy later today. Moskow, who votes on interest rates at the Fed this year, is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. New York time in Chicago.
``The market expects Moskow to say that the Fed will continue its measured pace of rate increases, so Treasuries would benefit on any chink in the armor or signs of flexibility,'' said Gerald Lucas, chief Treasury strategist in New York at Banc of America Securities LLC. The firm is also a primary dealer.
The Fed has raised its target for overnight loans between banks by a quarter-point at each of its 10 meetings since June 2004, bringing the rate to 3.5 percent from 1 percent. The yield on the September federal fund futures contract was 3.575 percent, showing traders see about a 90 percent chance the Fed will boost its key rate by another quarter percentage point to 3.75 percent.
U.S. lawmakers, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, have urged the Fed to refrain from a rate increase to help aid the economy in the wake of the hurricane. Treasury Secretary John Snow yesterday said it was too soon to gauge how destruction from the hurricane will affect the economy.
Under `Pressure'
Oil and gas prices surged to records after the storm. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for at least $40 billion more in emergency spending to help pay for the recovery, a Republican congressional aide said yesterday, speaking on the condition he not be identified.
``The Fed is under a lot of pressure'' not to raise rates at their Sept. 20 meeting, said Dominic Konstam, head of interest- rate strategy in New York at Credit Suisse First Boston, another primary dealer. ``The Fed will no longer be precommitted to raising rates indiscriminately.''
Philadelphia Fed President Anthony Santomero on Aug. 31 said ``the expansion is strong enough to withstand'' the effects of Hurricane Katrina and higher oil prices, and the central bank can keep to its ``measured'' pace of rate increases. Santomero votes on interest rates this year.
The Fed will publish its ``beige book'' report on economic conditions, which is released eight times a year, at 2 p.m. in Washington. Strategists said they expect most all of the report was based on data before the hurricane.
Auction
At the last auction of $13 billion of five-year securities on Aug. 10, the ratio that gauges appetite for the debt by comparing the number of bids to the amount of securities sold climbed to 2.92 from 2.37 at the previous sale. The new five-year notes yielded 3.9 percent in pre-auction trading.
At last month's sale of 5-year notes, indirect bidders, a class of buyers that includes foreign central banks, bought 21.8 percent of the notes, down from 29.6 percent in July.
The five-year note ``is trading rich, with a yield of 3.9 percent, so it may be a little harder to sell than the last auction,'' said Banc of America's Lucas.
sarà una stagione in emergenza per il tred, servono leve nuove altrimenti rimarremo in pochi