U.S. 10-Year Treasury Heads for Weekly Gain; Job Growth Slows ListenListen
June 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasuries are headed for their biggest weekly gain since mid-April, pushing 10-year yields to the lowest in more than a year, on speculation the economy may be growing too slowly to spark faster inflation.
Government debt surged earlier today before erasing their gains and falling. A Labor Department report that showed the economy in May added less than half the jobs forecast failed to cause Wall Street economists to pare their expectations for future Federal Reserve rate increase.
``The majority of investors think the Fed is committed to at least two more'' rate increases, said Peter Cordrey, who oversees $140 billion in bonds at Prudential Investment Management in Newark, New Jersey.
The benchmark 4 1/8 percent note due in May 2015 fell about 1/8, or $1.25 per $1,000 face amount, to 101 21/32 as of 11:40 a.m. in New York, according to bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald LP. The yield was 3.92 percent. The note was up about 5/8 and its yield fell as low as 3.80 percent -- the lowest since March 2004 -- shortly after the release of the jobs report at 8:30 a.m.
For the week, the yield is down 15 basis points, the most since it tumbled 23 basis points in the period ended April 15.
``We're already at very high levels,'' said Raymond Remy, head of fixed income sales and trading at Daiwa Securities America Inc. in New York. ``The markets moved too far too fast.''
Employers added 78,000 jobs in May, compared with the 175,000 median forecast of economists polled by Bloomberg News. The U.S. added 274,000 jobs in April.
Economists at Wall Street firms include RBS Greenwich Capital and Bear Stearns Cos. said in reports today that they are not ready to change their forecasts for how much further the Federal Reserve will raise rates. Job growth this year, they pointed out, is averaging 180,000 a month, almost unchanged from the average of 183,000 in 2004.
`Priced for Perfection'
``The bond market is priced for perfection -- slowing economic growth, declining inflation and a Fed that's done, with certainty, and as a rational investor you have to question that,'' said Marc Seidner, director of a group that oversees $21 billion at Standish Mellon Asset Management in Boston.
Seidner and some other investors such as National City Investment Management's Andrew Harding said they have been ``selling into strength'' on belief yields are too low.
Next week, the Treasury will auction next week what some analysts expect to be $24 billion of five- and 10-year notes.
Also next week, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan will testify to Congress on the economy. In his last testimony in February, he called 10-year yields near 4 percent a ``conundrum'' that may turn out to be an ``aberration.'' Fisher this week said yields, though they were lower than when Greenspan testified, are ``less of a conundrum.''
``There are some stiff headwinds still to peddle again fixed-income,'' Jason Evans, head of government bond trading at Deutsche Bank AG, said on a conference call with investors. Deutsche bank has seen ``very good selling against a 3.80 percent yield on 10-year notes'' that should last through next week, he said.
A technical chart that traders use to predict price changes is suggesting the rally in 10-year notes may end. The note's 10- day relative strength index, a gauge of momentum, was 76, and has declined from 80 two days ago. A level of 70 or above suggests the note's price may be poised to drop.