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DJ Debt Futures Review: Dn; US Jobs News Sparks Unwinding Of Longs
CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Friday morning's release of the August U.S.
employment data sparked selling pressure in interest-rate futures markets
Friday, and contracts posted healthy losses at the holiday-shortened close.
While the 144,000 gain in non-farm payrolls in August was not too far
from published Street expectations of a 158,000 rise, analysts noted
that "whisper" numbers had anticipated a much-weaker-than-expected reading,
similar to the disappointing July numbers.
The overall unemployment rate did post a 0.1% decline to 5.4%, versus
pre-report expectations of a steady reading. This all added up to "unwinding
of long exposure" at the long end of the interest-rate futures market," said
Lisa Finstrom, senior analyst at Citigroup Global Markets.
"The market had come in positioned to the long side this week. But, the
data we saw suggests the Fed is still likely to raise rates again Sept. 21."
The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to raise its key
interest rate this month for the third time since June. Forecasters say the
central bank will raise the federal funds rate a quarter percentage point to
1.75% when its top policymakers next meet on Sept. 21.
Other components of the August jobs data were encouraging, analysts
said. Average hourly earnings rose by 0.3% to $15.77 in August. "That is
reasonably strong," said Drew Matus, senior economist at Lehman Brothers. "If
people are earning more money, then people can spend more money," he said.
Manufacturing jobs rose by 22,000 in August, the largest jump in three
months.
A final factor, which may have sparked long liquidation at the long
end of the interest-rate futures market, is a pricing out of safety fears.
"We successfully made it through the Olympics and the Republican
convention without any types of terrorist activity," said Finstrom.
Looking back, economic reports this week that were softer than forecast
included weekly jobless claims Thursday morning (up 19,000 to 362,000),
consumer confidence, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index and Institute for
Supply Management's manufacturing survey.
But while this reflected a waning of economic momentum, the employment
index in the Chicago PMI report climbed to 51.1 in August from 45.6 in July.
The decline in the ISM employment index was slight - to 55.7 in August from
57.3 in July - and it remained above the 50 level that signals economic
expansion in such diffusion indexes.
Rob Zukowski, senior technical analyst at 4Cast Inc., said Friday's
action "is quite possibly the start of a short-term top."
The Dec 10-year note and Dec T-bond contract both posted reversal days on
the daily chart, in which prices hit a new high for the recent move but then
posted a large outside-day range, with a sharply lower close.
Zukowski pointed to a "sharp downturn in daily oscillators," such as RSI,
stochastics and MACD as negative confirmation to Friday's price action. Short-
term, Zukowski pointed to key chart support at 108 28/32, the Aug. 24 low on
the Dec T-bond chart as key to watch.
"It looks like we will put some pressure to test it," he said.
However, the important level for Zukowski was the 50-day moving average at
107 31/32 for the Dec T-bond. Near-term, he said, "we need to close below that
level to confirm a new downleg."
If a close under the 50-day moving average is seen, Zukowski said that
would open the door for additional declines toward the 105 zone, or the late
July lows in the Dec T-bond.
Next week, the economic calendar is relatively light, with the main focus
likely on Friday's release of the August release of the Producer Price Index.
Also, next week, interest-rate futures traders will be awaiting Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony before the House Budget committee
on Wednesday. Additionally, the Treasury is set to auction off $15 billion 5-
year notes on Wednesday and $9 billion 10-year notes on Thursday.
"It adds up to some risk of price movement to the downside," said
Finstrom, looking at next week's lineup.
At the close but ahead of settlement, the Dec 10-year note ended down
at 111-09, down 23 ticks, the Dec T-bond ended down 1 2/32 at 109 19/32, and
the Mar Eurodollar ended at 97.385, down .165.
- By Kira Brecht; Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4072