CREDIT : Bond Prices Steady in ‘Dead Calm’ Market
Bond prices barely budged in lethargic trading Thursday as the market looked for more evidence on the strength of the economy.
The Treasury’s bellwether 30-year bond finished unchanged and its yield held steady at 8.31%, the same as Wednesday.
Most traders were said to be keeping a low profile in anticipation of the Labor Department’s unemployment report for February, which is due out Friday and could shed more light on the economy’s strength.
“It’s been a dead calm in the bond market for the last several days,” said Harold Nathan, senior financial economist for Wells Fargo & Co. in San Francisco.
Prices of short-term government issues were unchanged to 1/32 point higher, while intermediate maturities and 20-year issues were unchanged, according to figures provided by Telerate Inc.
The movement of a point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.
The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 6.438%, down from 6.50% Wednesday.
In corporate trading, industrials and utilities were unchanged in light trading, according to the investment firm Salomon Bros.
Yields on three-month Treasury bills were unchanged at 5.60%. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Six-month bills rose 4 basis points to 5.86% and one-year bills edged up 2 basis points at 6.16%.
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