BLBG: Treasury Yield Curve Flattens Before Seven-Year Note Auction
By Daniel Kruger and Anchalee Worrachate
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The difference in yields between 2- and 10-year Treasury notes narrowed to near the least in a month before the sale of $32 billion in 7-year notes, the last of four auctions this week of a record $129 billion of notes.
The yield curve flattened to as low as 2.71 percentage points, down from a record high of 2.94 percentage points on Feb. 18. Treasuries fell earlier as stocks advanced amid signs the European Union is near to concluding a rescue package for Greece, damping demand for the safest assets. The Labor Department reported that fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits last week.
“It’s flat for all the right reasons,” said Sean Murphy, a Treasury trader at Societe Generale in New York. “The numbers have been very strong for the economy, supply has been weighing on the market, month-end has been weighing on the market.”
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note fell less than 1 basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 3.76 percent at 8:50 a.m. in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data. The 3.625 percent security due in February 2020 rose 1/32, or 31 cents per $1,000 face amount, to 98 29/32.
Initial jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 448,000 in the week ended April 24, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and the lowest level in a month, Labor Department figures showed. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance and those getting extended payments decreased.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Kruger in New York at dkruger1@bloomberg.net; Anchalee Worrachate in London at aworrachate@bloomberg.net