Una giornata di presa per il naso come oggi non me la ricordavo da tempo sul maledetto crucco...

- buona serata
U.S. Treasuries mixed as stocks turn lower
Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:56 PM ET
(Adds two-year auction, quote; updates prices)
NEW YORK, Aug 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt prices were mixed on Monday as investors left stocks and moved into the bond market at the beginning of a slow summer week that will culminate with much-anticipated comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Traders said the bond market was reflecting flows into and out of the stock market, with the bond market retracing and then erasing early losses as the stock market gave back early gains.
"It's kind of the stocks thing, but there's really very little going on," said one Wall Street bond trader at a primary dealer.
Given a light schedule of economic data this week, the bond market will listen closely to Fed officials for clues on inflation at a time when spiking energy prices have heightened the focus on how price increases could affect the economy.
"There is some data, but nothing that is likely to change the foundation of anybody's outlook," said John Canavan, an analyst at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Princeton, New Jersey.
The week brings Wednesday's offering of two-year notes, data on durable goods orders and on new and existing home sales. Greenspan speaks on Friday, preceded on Wednesday by Michael Moskow, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank.
The Treasury Department said it planned to sell $20 billion at its two-year note auction on Wednesday -- the same amount as at its last two auctions of two-year notes.
Benchmark 10-year year notes (US10YT=RR: Quote, Profile, Research) were little changed, for a yield of 4.21 percent. Analysts put the near-term range of yields on the 10-year note between 4.18 percent and 4.28 percent.
Two-year Treasuries (US2YT=RR: Quote, Profile, Research) were also flat, yielding 4.02 percent.
Five-year notes (US5YT=RR: Quote, Profile, Research) were 1/32 higher and yielding 4.08 percent, but the 30-year bond (US30YT=RR: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 2/32 to yield 4.43 percent, up from 4.42 percent on Friday.
INFLATION ON THE RADAR
The market's concern about inflation has roared back to center stage in recent sessions with crude oil prices above $65 a barrel this month.
Comments from Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker published on Friday also raised worries about inflation. His concern centered on upward revisions to 2004 core inflation, a measure that excludes energy prices.
Both concerns have different implications for the interest rate outlook.
If oil prices continue to climb, the slowing effect on growth is likely to be roughly equivalent to interest rate increases and the Fed is likely to slow its campaign to raise rates.
On the other hand, if prices -- excluding the volatile energy and food components -- are heading higher due to factors like wage increases, the Fed is likely to raise rates to preclude any inflationary overheating of the economy.
Inflation erodes the value of bond investments, which is why inflation concerns are so deleterious to bond prices.
"(Lacker) pointed to continued tightening of the funds rate at a measured pace, but revealed that the Fed might go beyond neutral into restraint to control rising inflation expectations," a research note from BNP Paribas said.
The Fed has raised official short-term rates by a quarter-percentage point 10 consecutive times in the last 13 months, bringing the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans to 3.50 percent, a four-year high.
Economists widely expect the fed funds rate to reach 4.00 by the end of the year, and some believe it will reach 4.25 percent by then.