CREDIT : Bond Prices Edge Lower in Light Trading

Bond prices closed mostly lower in dull trading Thursday, as investors awaited today’s unemployment report.

The Treasury’s closely watched 30-year bond ended the day unchanged, with its yield at 9.08%.

Analysts said volume was light as the bond market anticipated the release of U.S. jobless figures for December.

“Government securities are marking time in anticipation of those numbers because they will give us a feel for what the December economy did and the probable direction for the Federal Reserve’s credit policy,” said Elizabeth Ginste Reiners of Dean Witter Reynolds Inc.

Many analysts predict the new figures will show an increase of 225,000 to 275,000 in non-farm jobs over November’s figures.

But many investors fear that the numbers will be stronger, said Mitchell Held of Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. “If that happens, then there’s the fear of the Fed tightening,” he said.

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