NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The rising yields of U.S. Treasurys over the past two
days triggered more selling in government securities around the world and sent
Treasury prices mostly lower again Wednesday morning.
Computer models measuring market momentum in hedge funds and other investment
firms appeared to have turned negative enough to trigger selling programs in
government securities in overnight trading, participants said.
In the selloffs Monday and Tuesday, the benchmark 10-year note yield jumped
to 3.26% from a historic low of 3.08%, crossing important technical levels.
"What we've seen over the last couple of days is significant enough to
suggest the market will back up (in yields)," said Niall O'Connor, technical
strategist at J.P. Morgan in New York.
Andrew Brenner, head of institutional fixed income at Investec Ernst in New
York, said opportunistic investors have been closely following market
sentiment. And "when you have this trend they will hop on it," he said.
The selloff Tuesday was led by German bunds, where 10-year bund yield surged
by 13 basis points. Even the severely depressed 10-year Japanese government
bond yield moved up by 5 basis points.
Selling in Treasurys continued early Wednesday morning and was heaviest
around 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), in sympathy with the market movements in Europe.
Prices recovered somewhat later in the morning in New York trading, but
remained mostly lower.
At 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 GMT), the benchmark 10-year note was down 9/32 at 102
24/32 to yield 3.30%. The 30-year bond was down 19/32 at 116 20/32 to yield
4.34%.
The five-year note was down 3/32 at 101 24/32 to yield 2.25%, while the
two-year note was up 1/32 at 100 2/32 to yield 1.21%, and the three-year note
was unchanged at 101 13/32 to yield 1.50%.
Despite the third straight day of selling, analysts say the market is
correcting the heated price levels and high expectation of a large rate cut by
the Federal Reserve next week, rather than at the beginning of a selling trend.
O'Connor said investors have been booking profits from Treasurys and
allocating some funds into equities.
However, "there's not enough evidence to suggest that it's cyclical top (in
price)," he said.
He expects the 10-year note's yield to move up to around 3.45% to 3.50% in
the near term.
There are no major economic data scheduled for Wednesday. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average is down 76 points to 9246.
-By Joy C. Shaw; Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2137;
[email protected]