BLBG: Treasuries, Crude Oil Climb as U.S. Stocks Decline; Spanish Bonds Rally
Treasuries and crude oil rose and stocks fell in the U.S. as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sought to regain control of Cairo’s streets. Spanish bonds advanced on optimism the region’s leaders will agree on an expanded bailout.
Yields on 10-year Treasuries slipped three basis points to 3.41 percent at 10:14 a.m. in New York. Oil climbed 0.7 percent to $91.39. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index retreated 0.2 percent. The rally in Spain’s 10-year bond drove the yield down 14 basis points.
The Egyptian army said protesters should return to their homes, hours after U.S. President Barack Obama told Mubarak that transition to democracy must “begin now.” Supporters of the president rallied in central Cairo and there were clashes with protesters. Germany is making its agreement to an expanded rescue effort for Europe’s most-indebted countries conditional on tighter finance controls, said four officials involved in talks among Europe’s leaders before a Feb. 4 summit.
Unrest in Egypt “is the sort of event risk that is difficult to hedge, so many will prefer to be better safe than sorry,” said Arnab Das, the head of global market research at Roubini Global Economics in London. “Another trade or oil shock so soon after the systemic global financial crisis and last year’s double dip fears, could hit global recovery, fragile as it is.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Baker in New York at nbaker7@bloomberg.net; Stephen Kirkland in London at skirkland@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net.
