By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. Treasury prices rose Friday, gaining ahead of data due shortly that are expected to show the nation’s trade deficit lessened in April as oil prices fell sharply.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch forecast a 7.3% reduction in the deficit to $48.0 billion, after the trade gap widened sharply to $51.8 billion in March.
In early trading the yield on the 10-year note 10_YEAR -3.58% fell to 1.57%, down 8 basis points from its previous close.
The yield on the 30-year bond 30_YEAR -2.01% also fell, down 7 basis points to 2.55%.
Bond prices move inversely to their yields. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Fixed-income investors remained skittish about upcoming economic data due out of China over the weekend, including inflation, industrial production and retail sales for May, as well as monthly trade figures.
A Thursday interest-rate cut by the People’s Bank of China was first embraced by the market, but sentiment soured a bit as analysts, on further reflection, seemed to think that the cut could be telegraphing a warning on the state of conditions in the world’s second-biggest economy. Read more on MarketWatch about reaction to Chinese data
Greg Morcroft is MarketWatch's financial editor in New York.
