Treasuries Gain; Greenspan Doesn't Expect Change in Yields Soon
June 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. 10-year Treasuries advanced after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan signaled he doesn't expect yields to change soon after their ``unusual'' slide to near a 14-month low.
Yields have been falling partly because of global investors buying U.S. debt, Greenspan said via satellite to an International Monetary Conference today in Beijing. Asked if there would be any change soon, he said: ``I would think not.'' It's a ``credible notion'' that bond markets are signaling ``economic weakness,'' he also said.
``He's suggesting he's not expecting to see a change in yields anytime soon and that's great'' for bulls on Treasuries, said Andrew Roberts, Merrill Lynch & Co.'s chief European fixed- income strategist in London. ``The market is coming to terms with the fact that inflation is going to stay tame.''
The 4 1/8 percent note due in May 2015 rose 4/32, or $1.25 per $1,000 face amount, to 101 17/32 at 10:11 a.m. in London, according to Cantor Fitzgerald LP. The yield fell 2 basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 3.93 percent.
Merrill's interest-rate strategy committee, of which Roberts is a member, cut its forecast for Treasury yields last month. The group now expects the 10-year note to yield 3.8 percent at year- end, down from a previous estimate of 4.4 percent. Pension fund buying is helping depress yields, Roberts said.
`Given His Consent'
The 10-year yield touched 3.8 percent on June 3, the lowest since March last year, after the Labor Department said the economy added 78,000 workers last month, the fewest since August 2003. The increase in payrolls was less than half the number expected and followed a gain of 274,000 jobs in April.
Greenspan on June 9 will testify to Congress on the economy. During his last testimony in February, he called 10-year yields near 4 percent a ``conundrum.''
``It's as if Greenspan has given his consent for the level on yields on long-term bonds,'' said John Davies, a bond strategist in London at WestLB AG. ``He seems to have softened his stance and that's given the go ahead for some people to buy at these levels.''
Central bank purchases of U.S. government securities can't fully explain the ``unusual'' behavior of Treasury yields, Greenspan said in remarks to the conference. Bond rates are falling ``virtually everywhere,'' he said.
Credit Suisse First Boston predicts that increasing oil prices, rising adjustable mortgage rates and slower income growth will push the 10-year yield down to 3.6 percent.
Consumers this quarter will have $36 billion to $46 billion less to spend because of higher energy and mortgage payments, Dominic Konstam, head of interest rate research at CSFB in New York, said in an interview yesterday. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy.
`Without Precedent'
The 10-year yield has slumped from this year's high of 4.69 percent reached on March 23. At the same time, the Fed has been raising the benchmark interest rate. It has raised rates in quarter-point increments eight times since June, most recently on May 3.
``The pronounced decline in U.S. Treasury long-term interest rates over the past year, despite a 200-basis-point increase in our federal funds rate, is clearly without precedent,'' Greenspan said today.
Greenspan said the decline in long-term yields may result in the rates falling below those of short-term yields. The last time 10-year notes yielded less than two-year notes was in December 2000. The economy shrank the following quarter.
The 10-year yield was 38 basis points higher than two-year yields today, the smallest gap since February 2001.
`We Sold'
Gains in Treasuries may be tempered as some investors said they sold the notes because yields are near the lowest in more than a year.
``We sold some 10-year Treasuries over the past few days,'' said Satoshi Asai, who helps oversee $1 billion of bonds in Tokyo at Sompo Japan Asset Management, a unit of the nation's third- largest casualty insurer. ``We are not bullish on the outlook of Treasury notes at all.''
Treasuries also rose after Greenspan said hedge funds, loosely regulated pools of capital, may be over-reaching as they seek higher returns. Speculation of hedge fund losses have spurred buying of Treasuries in the past month as investors sought the safety of government debt.
``Greenspan thinks traders are taking too much risk and is not happy with long term rates,'' said Andrew Brenner, head of global fixed income in New York at Investec U.S. Inc.
Hedge funds dropped an average 1.75 percent in April, their worst monthly performance since September 2002, according to Hennessee Group LLC, a New York-based consulting firm. World hedge-fund performance was little changed in May, the Financial Times said today, citing Merrill's global hedge fund monitor.
The funds added $24.6 billion in the first quarter, according to a report last month by Tremont Capital Management Inc., following inflows of $123 billion last year. Hedge fund assets total more than $1 trillion.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Jake Lee at
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Last Updated: June 7, 2005 05:16 EDT