CREDIT : Lack of Economic News Keeps Bond Prices Steady

Bond prices changed little Tuesday in the absence of economic news, with the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond ending the day barely below where it ended Monday’s trading session.

With no news to move the market, bond traders looked ahead to reports due Friday on retail sales and wholesale prices for February, said Maria Ramirez, a managing director of Drexel Burnham Lambert.

Remarks by Federal Reserve Board Governor Wayne Angell acted as a drag on the credit markets, according to Elliott Platt, research director of DL&J; Securities.

Angell told an American Paper Institute conference in New York on Tuesday morning that if the Federal Reserve pursues too loose a credit policy, it would risk a return to high inflation. He also said he wasn’t too concerned about the likelihood of an economic slowdown.

Trading Moderate

Bond prices fell in the morning but rebounded by the end of the day.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, the bellwether 30-year issue ended the day down 1/16 point, or 63 cents per $1,000 in face value. Its yield, which moves inversely to its price, rose to 8.52% from 8.51% on Monday. In the previous session, the 30-year bond had lost about $3.75.

Prices of short-term government issues were unchanged, intermediate maturities were up 1/32 point, and 20-year issues were unchanged, according to figures provided by the investment firm of Salomon Bros.

The movement of a point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

Rate to Banks Unchanged

The Shearson Lehman daily Treasury bond index, which measures price movements on all outstanding Treasury issues with maturities of a year or longer, fell 0.07 to 1,181.16.

In corporate trading, industrials and utilities were unchanged in price in moderate trading, Salomon Bros. said.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills were up one basis point to 5.73%. Six-month bills fell five basis points to 5.87%, and one-year bills fell two basis points to 6.27%. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was quoted late in the day at 6.675%, unchanged from Monday.

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