NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Treasury bonds and German bunds became financial markets' darlings Monday as investors flocked to safe-harbor assets on fresh signs of troubles in the euro zone. The flight to safety pushed down the benchmark 10-year Treasury note's yield, which moves inversely to its price, to as low as 1.909%, the weakest level since the end of February. The yield is less than 25 basis points from a historic low set in September, a sharp turnaround from the selloff in March that sent the yield to as high as 2.399%. Yields in German bunds, the benchmark for the euro zone's debt market, dropped to fresh record lows. The five-year bund's yield hit as low as 0.598%, while the 10-year bund's yield touched 1.56%.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Treasury Bonds Boosted By Europe Fears; German Bund Yields Hit Record Lows
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Treasury bonds and German bunds became financial markets' darlings Monday as investors flocked to safe-harbor assets on fresh signs of troubles in the euro zone. The flight to safety pushed down the benchmark 10-year Treasury note's yield, which moves inversely to its price, to as low as 1.909%, the weakest level since the end of February. The yield is less than 25 basis points from a historic low set in September, a sharp turnaround from the selloff in March that sent the yield to as high as 2.399%. Yields in German bunds, the benchmark for the euro zone's debt market, dropped to fresh record lows. The five-year bund's yield hit as low as 0.598%, while the 10-year bund's yield touched 1.56%.
MF Global Customers Press J.P. Morgan for Funds
MF Global Customers Press J.P. Morgan for Funds - WSJ.com
Customers of MF Global Holdings Ltd. are pushing regulators to get tougher on J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +0.30% & Co. about money that went missing from accounts just before the firm's collapse.
Customers of MF Global Holdings Ltd. are pushing regulators to get tougher on J.P. Morgan Chase JPM +0.30% & Co. about money that went missing from accounts just before the firm's collapse.
US GAS: Futures Back Above $2 After Wintry Storm
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Natural gas futures jumped 4.2%, returning to levels above $2 for the first time in a week, after a wintry storm hit the East Coast and led to some late-season demand for gas used for heating. Natural gas for May delivery settled 8 cents higher at $2.007 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the first time futures have finished above $2 since April 16 and comes just two sessions after prices tumbled their lowest level in more than 10 years.
High Oil Prices: Even $200 Oil Won't Cause a Recession
Last month’s weak unemployment numbers, with only 120,000 jobs created, brought renewed wails that high oil prices were causing a recession. Having heard this refrain so many times, I thought I'd dig a little deeper. After all, a peak of $145 per barrel in the West Texas Intermediate oil price pretty well coincided with the onset of the 2008 recession. The question is whether or not high oil prices are always correlated with an inevitable downturn. For instance, when you look closer, oil was not to blame in 2008. Other factors were much more serious culprits, including the housing crisis (by then in market collapse) and the banking crisis that followed. Between them they are the hallmarks of financial crisis that brought on the nasty recession. To find out why, we need to do a little arithmetic.
Soybeans in the teens; how about the twenties?
Last week July 2012 soybeans opened at 1438¾ and closed the week at 1449½. July soybeans open 2012 at 1251. On the daily chart, technicals show beans in a strong trend with ADX at 38; however, ADX is dropping. MACD is riding just below the signal line with little divergence, and Stochastics are hovering just below overbought territory. Keep in mind that the bean high was achieved on July 7 2008 at 1663.
Long Bond Rallies as QE Inflation Looks Elusive to Lacy Hunt
April 23 (Bloomberg) -- Lacy Hunt, whose bond fund has beaten 99 percent of its peers during the past five years by buying the longest maturity Treasuries, says 30-year government securities remain the world's best debt investment. "The long end of the Treasury curve offers the greatest value," Hunt, the chief economist at Austin, Texas-based Hoisington Investment Management, which oversees more than $4.5 billion, said April 17 in a telephone interview. "The risk of deflation is greater than the risk of inflation over the next several years," said Hunt, whose firm's Wasatch-Hoisington U.S. Treasury Fund has returned 76 percent since April 2007.
Euro stung by political, economic growth uncertainty
(Reuters) - The euro fell a from two-week high against the dollar on Monday on concern the euro zone debt crisis could engulf European nations as yet relatively unscathed, with the economic outlook and rising political risks likely to keep it under pressure. Analysts said sentiment towards the common currency was bearish, with most investors looking to sell it on any rally before debt auctions this week in Italy and the Netherlands.
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