U.S. Treasuries surge ahead of FOMC speeches, short-term auctions

The U.S. Treasuries surged during Monday’s afternoon session ahead of a host of speeches by members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – Williams, Bullard and Daly scheduled to be delivered today by 13:50GMT, 17:00GMT and 18:30GMT respectively.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield slumped 6-1/2 basis points to 1.689 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yield plunged 7 percent to 2.127 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded nearly 5 basis points down at 1.665 percent by 11:55GMT.

After US stocks moved broadly sideways yesterday (the S&P500 closed unchanged on the day), a number of Asian-Pacific markets also trod water today. Japan’s main indices were a case in point, with the Topix closing unchanged on the day as August inflation data predictably showed little signs of life, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Final Q2 GDP numbers – also to be published on Thursday – are likely to confirm annualised growth of 2.0 percent q/q, while advance goods trade and inventories figures for August will be closely watched for economic momentum in Q3, the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures remained tad 0.15 percent up at 3,012.38 by 12:00GMT.