giparuleZ in action, calo dello yen e subito lo spuurrr ha ripreso fiato
il T-bronx sarebbe schizzato per delle indiscrezioni di intelligence per un probabile attentato durante le vacanze, che palllleeeeeee ancora non si son stancati di gridare al lupo
TREASURIES-Prices up on soft manufacturing, terror 'chatter'
Thu Dec 21, 2006 2:02pm
By Ellen Freilich
By Ellen Freilich
NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt prices climbed on Thursday, boosted by a surprisingly soft reading of mid-Atlantic business activity and a report about a potential terror act in London this weekend.
The weaker-than-expected reading on the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's index returned bond investors' focus to the possibility the Fed may start trimming interest rates early next year. Bond traders are alert to any signs weakness in the housing and auto sectors is rippling across the whole economy.
Some market participants also cited "chatter about a terror event or the expectation of a terror event this weekend," said Lou Brien, a strategist with DRW Trading Group in Chicago.
ABCnews.com said that British intelligence and law enforcement officials had passed on a grim assessment to their U.S. counterparts, leading a "senior American law enforcement official" to tell ABCnews.com that it would be "a miracle if there isn't a terror attack over the holidays in London."
T.J. Marta, fixed income strategist at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets in New York, cited the "terror story from ABC" and the "lousy Philly Fed," as reasons for the market's gains.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's business conditions index read -4.3 in December, down from 5.1 in November and below economists' median forecast in a Reuters poll for a 4.0 reading
"The Philadelphia manufacturing survey came in a little lower than expected and that helped Treasuries prices," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones in St. Louis, Missouri.
Benchmark 10-year notes <US10YT> climbed 9/32 in price in the aftermath of the Philadelphia Fed report, their yields easing to 4.57 percent from 4.60 late on Wednesday.
The two-year <US2YT> note, which responds closely to expectations on Fed interest rate shifts, rose 3/32, its yield easing to 4.67 percent from 4.72 percent late on Wednesday.
Bond yields and prices move inversely.
"It is very clear that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia district has stalled out as the year has come to a close," said William Sullivan, chief economist at JVB Financial Group in Boca Raton, Florida. "The index has reflected weakness in factory output over the last three or four months in that particular district, related to weakness in residential construction and the auto industry," he said.
Richmond Fed Bank President Jeffrey Lacker, a non-voting member of the Fed's 2007 monetary policy committee, offered a stream of hawkish statements that the market seemed to ignore. As usual, he said the main threat to the economic outlook for the coming year was higher inflation.
Mary Ann Hurley, vice president of fixed-income at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Seattle, said the market set aside Lacker's remarks because he will not be a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee in 2007.
"Lacker's comments are very consistent with how he has voted in the last three meetings; he wanted the Fed to tighten, but the bottom line is he is not a voter next year," she said.
Earlier, U.S. government debt prices were little changed as investors shrugged off a report showing economic growth in the third quarter was slightly less than the government had reported earlier.