Yep... continuing to sell gold...
$35billion 5yr note auction bid covers at 2.32.
$USD up and gold down with the result.
NEW YORK, Wed May 27, 2009 1:12pm EDT (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury debt prices were steady to higher on Wednesday following an auction of five-year notes that drew solid demand, particularly from indirect bidders. That category is often used as a proxy for foreign interest, and it comprised 44 percent of the $35 billion on offer.
BEIJING, Wed May 27, 2009 1:16am EDT (Reuters) - The global financial crisis has tarnished the dollar and will prompt reserve managers to diversify, but the U.S. currency will retain its dominant international role, a senior Chinese official said in remarks published on Wednesday. Guan Tao from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which invests China's $1.95 trillion in currency reserves, likened the risk of U.S. inflation and dollar depreciation to "blocked dams" that threatened the stability of the global monetary system in the medium term.
Happy trading,
AC
REUTERS TREASURIES-Bloated US debt burden drives bond rout [JQNJMGH]
* Selling takes on momentum of its own
* Yield curve at steepest ever
* Mortgage investors exacerbate downturn
(Adds comments)
By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
NEW YORK, May 27 (Reuters) - U.S. government bonds came
under heavy pressure again on Wednesday as investors worried
about the ever-expanding amount of debt needed to fund a record
$1.75 trillion budget deficit.
The downdraft in bonds was so heavy it actually dragged
down the U.S. stock market, inverting the more normal
relationship where U.S. Treasuries tend to track equities.
Selling by mortgage investors, who are often forced to sell
U.S. Treasuries to hedge their positions, when yields surpass
key levels, added renewed impetus to the downturn.
The decline was largely concentrated in longer-dated
maturities, driving the gap between short- and long-term rates,
known as the yield curve, to its steepest level on record.
"You're exploding the issuance at a time when demand for
the product you've got is a best flat," said Malcolm Polley,
president and chief investment officer at Stewart Capital
Advisors. "So rates are going to go up. It's simple
economics."
Benchmark 10-year notes <US10YT=RR> were down over 1-16/32
and yielding 3.74 percent, up nearly 20 basis points in just
one day and over 1.25 percentage points in just six weeks. The
spread between 10- and two-year notes widened to 275 basis
points, the largest ever gap.
The market has become increasingly bearish since mid-March,
when the Federal Reserve first announced its intention to buy
up to $300 billion of U.S. Treasuries over six months.
The rise in yields in recent weeks was at first due to
signs of economic stabilization and less need for a safe-haven,
but recently the trend has shifted toward skittishness over the
huge U.S. government borrowing requirement this year.
The Fed bought $6 billion in Treasuries on Wednesday alone,
but that was not nearly enough to stem the tide.
Mortgage servicers often sell Treasuries to hedge against
the unwanted lengthening of their portfolio's duration as
yields head higher and curtail home loan refinancing activity.
NOT ENOUGH
Wednesday's auction of $35 billion in new five-year
Treasury notes actually found good demand, particularly from
indirect bidders, who took 44 percent of the deal. That
category is often used as a loose proxy for foreign central
bank interest in Treasuries, so traders welcomed their
showing.
However, there were lingering fears about the broader
picture. With $2 trillion or more in net issuance seen coming
to market this year alone, some dealers were looking for a
sharp readjustment in bond yields to reflect the cost to
government of financing its borrowing.
With another auction still to go this week in Thursday's
sale of $26 billion in seven-year Treasury notes, traders felt
it was too early to breathe a sigh of relief, particularly with
market sentiment being so negative. Seven years are a
relatively new maturity, which means that dealers are still
unfamiliar with patterns of investor interest, especially from
foreigners.
As the selling deepened, the 30-year Treasury bond fell
over two full points, pushing its yields 14 basis points higher
to 4.64 percent.
"Now yields are rising to levels that are becoming very
worrisome for the economic outlook," said William Sullivan,
chief economist at JVB Financial Group in Boca Raton, Florida.
(Additional reporting by Burton Frierson and Ellen
Freilich; Editing by Diane Craft)