Treasury Bond Futures Rise

Treasury bond futures soared the limit allowed for daily trading on the Chicago Board of Trade, signaling that investors are growing increasingly confident that inflation is under control for the coming months.

All contracts settled the limit 2 points higher in near record-volume trading, with the March delivery at 94 932. This was the first time since the Board of Trade established the Treasury bond futures contract in 1977 that all deliveries settled the limit higher.

“Oil prices are continuing to fall and commodity prices are hovering at historic lows,” said Gary Dorsch, an analyst in Chicago with G. H. Miller & Co.

“At the moment, inflation appears to be well under control,” he said.

Another major factor affecting bond futures, he said, is the expectation that central banks in Western Europe and Japan may soon cut domestic interest rates to stabilize the U.S. dollar on foreign exchange markets.