MW: Treasurys up after Draghi bows out, before auction
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices rose on Tuesday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi cancelled a plan to speak at the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole conference this weekend.
Also, the U.S. will sell $35 billion in 2-year notes 2_YEAR +1.45% , an auction that analysts expect to go smoothly.
Yields on 10-year notes 10_YEAR -0.97% , which move inversely to prices, fell 2 basis points to 1.64% -- the seventh day out of the last eight sessions when yields have fallen. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point. Read about recent Treasury gains.
Thirty-year yields 30_YEAR -0.47% declined 2 basis points to 2.75%.
Yields on 5-year notes 5_YEAR -1.16% fell 1 basis point to 0.68%.
Draghi was considered the second-most important attendee at the conference, and his absence will put more attention on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s anticipated comments on whether the U.S. central bank will buy more bonds to ease financial conditions.
Draghi and the ECB said he won’t attend because of his heavy workload. Read more on Draghi.
“Apparently he’s too busy, which has overnight sparked comments that this means he’s really working on a big plan for the Sept. 6 ECB meeting,” said bond strategists at CRT Capital Group. Read more on Draghi.
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Deborah Levine is a MarketWatch reporter, based in New York.
