US Treasuries test yield barriers in newsless trade
In NEW YORK story headlined "US Treasuries test yield barriers in newsless trade" please read in fourth paragraph ... on Friday at 1:15 p.m. (1715 GMT)on Friday ... instead of ... at 12:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) ... (Corrects time of Greenspan speech).
A corrected version follows.
By Oliver Ludwig
NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt prices were slightly lower on Friday morning, kicking off the final day of a week that, except for comments from U.S. central bankers, has been quite light in terms of tradable news.
"They checked out last Friday's highs, failed to find buyers, and actually brought out some of the same sellers that we saw a week ago," Peter McTeague, head of U.S. government bond strategy at RBS Greenwich Capital, said summarizing recent market action in a research note published early on Friday.
At 9:00 a.m. (1300 EDT), the 10-year note<US10YT=RR>, range-trading all week long, was 1/32 lower to yield 4.49 percent, near the top of its recent 4.42 percent to 4.51 percent range. In a earlier test emblematic of the week's volatile trade, the benchmark instrument's yield briefly rose to 4.51 percent.
Traders were looking ahead to a speech on Friday at 1:15 p.m. (1715 GMT) by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on consumer finance in Washington D.C. for some morsels of information to trade on.
But with oil prices high and accompanied by incipient signs of companies exercising pricing power, traders appeared more concerned about mounting inflationary pressures and the Fed's resolve to deal with it than with the subject of Greenspan's speech.
Speeches by two regional Fed presidents in the last 24 hours spoke more directly to the market's concerns and helped move the Treasury market in pre-U.S. trade, especially the long bond.
On Thursday Anthony Santomero, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank president, said there was anecdotal evidence of price pressures in the U.S. economy.
Late Thursday, St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole said that energy costs and renewed company pricing power pushed up the danger of faster inflation.
Santomero stressed that while the central bank could move in a slow and cautious manner on rates, it could not afford to be behind the curve in fighting inflation.
"Santomero did enough to boost long bonds, which are sensitive to inflation fears. In the two-10 year part of the yield curve, we are just rangebound because there is no data or much direction," said a trader at a U.S. investment bank in London.
At 8:40 a.m. (1240 GMT) the 30-year Treasury bonds <US30YT=RR> were slightly below their earlier peaks, trading 2/32 higher than the New York close on Thursday to yield 4.79 percent.
Two-year Treasuries <US2YT=RR> were down 1/32 and yielding 3.75 percent.
In the belly of the yield curve, five-year notes <US5YT=RR> were trading 2/32 lower and yielding 4.15 percent. ((Reporting by Oliver Ludwig; editing by Ted d'Afflisio; Reuters Messaging:
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-------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 9:15 a.m. (1315 GMT) -------------------
June Eurodollar <EDM5> 96.52 (-0.01)
June T-Bond <USM5> 111-11/32 (+00/32)
June 10-year note <TYM5> 109-12/32 (-03/32)
Change vs Current
Nyk yield
Three-month bills<US3MT=RR> 2.72 (+0.01) 2.771
Six-month bills <US6MT=RR> 3.03 (-0.01) 3.119
Two-year note <US2YT=RR> 100-00/32 (-01/32) 3.749
Five-year note <US5YT=RR> 99-11/32 (-02/32) 4.150
10-year note <US10YT=RR> 96-04/32 (-01/32) 4.491
30-year bond <US30YT=RR> 108-22/32 (+07/32) 4.786
.....roba da pazzi quanto si erano stretti gli spread con gli emergenti....
