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DJ Debt Futures Review: Down On Profit Taking Ahead Of Jobs Data
By Allen Sykora
BEND, Ore. (Dow Jones)--Interest-rate futures in Chicago finished lower
Thursday as longs opted to square their positions in advance of Friday's key
report on the employment situation in August, traders said.
The longer end of the yield curve this week got up to its highest levels
in nearly half a year. Many participants are reluctant to want to go into the
hard-to-predict payrolls report with long positions at longtime highs, they
said.
Contacts said there appears to be some diversity of opinion on what the
report will show. While some of the data this week has been soft, they pointed
out that the employment portion of a couple key diffusion indexes suggested
the labor market just might be holding up better than some think.
Dec 10-year notes settled down 14 ticks at 112-even, Dec Treasury bonds
lost 24 ticks to 110-21, and Mar Eurodollars fell 5.5 basis points to 97.55.
The pullback comes after Dec 10-year notes on Wednesday got up to 112-
22.5 and Dec bonds got up to 111-28, their most muscular levels since March.
"Some people must have remembered the employment report is coming out
(Friday)," quipped John Nyhoff, executive vice president in Chicago with Bank
of Tokyo/Mitsubishi Futures.
The futures have been climbing steadily since bouncing on Aug. 24, he
said.
"So you're seeing people squaring up a little bit before this report
comes out," said Nyhoff.
He later added: "It isn't as if the economy has fallen apart. It seems to
have hit a softer growth spot. So when all is said and done, do you really
want to be long at (long-time) highs going into a report that has so much
importance for monetary policy?"
He offered the view that much of the selling has been in the form of long
liquidation since many traders are likewise probably reluctant to short the
market and thus "defy" the recent trend, at least ahead of the data.
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.
"Both of them were relatively strong, although obviously you got a bigger
pop in the Chicago (employment index) report," said Nyhoff.
This has prompted concern that the August non-farm payrolls growth will be
equal to or larger than the consensus forecast of 150,000, said Nyhoff. The
data is scheduled for release at 0730 CT (1230 GMT). The unemployment rate is
expected to remain at 5.5%.
Roseanne Briggen, senior market analyst in New York with Informa Global
Markets, also cited profit taking. The move may have been aided by the
pullback from the highs in crude oil, she added. While Oct crude settled up six
cents at $44.06, it was well down from its $45.37 high for the day.
In the current environment, higher oil prices have tended to be viewed as
bond friendly on ideas that escalating energy costs could slow economic
growth. That's a turnabout from years past, when high energy prices were
viewed as inflationary and thus bond bearish.
In the interest-rate pits, said Briggen, "people were taking profits.
They don't want to be long tomorrow, although I don't think they want to be
all that short, either."
Besides Friday's jobs report, there might also be some caution ahead of
President Bush's speech to the Republican national convention Thursday
evening, due to conjecture that Bush may be aware of Friday's jobs data,
Briggen added.
The nearby resistance for the Dec 10-year notes is the Wednesday high of
112-22.5, said Nyhoff. The next resistance above this is a ways away - at a
Bollinger-band level of 113-16 and a trendline around 115-02, he said.
"If we get through that 112-22-plus, it's certainly within the realm of
reason we could rally as much as another point before this market gets tired,"
Nyhoff said.
He put support around the Aug. 24 low of 110-30.
In Mar Eurodollars, Nyhoff put initial resistance at Wednesday's 97.63
high, then the high of 97.655 set after the July jobs report came out on Aug.
6. Above this, an intermediate-term trendline is a long ways away, around
97.90, said Nyhoff.
He put support around the Aug. 24 low of 97.45, which is also Bollinger-
band support.
Interest-rate futures at both the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago
Mercantile Exchange are scheduled to close at noon CT (1700 GMT) Friday ahead
of the three-day Labor Day weekend.
-By Allen Sykora; Dow Jones Newswires; 541-318-8765;
[email protected]
(END) Dow Jones Newswires