By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury bonds were little changed on Wednesday, with investors awaiting a possible announcement from the Federal Reserve that it will continue monetary stimulus for the economy.
Yields on 10-year Treasury notes 10_YEAR -0.18% were flat at 1.66%.
Thirty-year 30_YEAR +0.04% bond yields were also unchanged at 2.85%, while 5-year note 5_YEAR +0.47% yields traded at 0.64%.
In Washington, the Federal Open Market Committee is meeting for a second day. It will unveil its decision at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, with most analysts anticipating the FOMC will announce fresh monthly purchases of $45 billion of Treasurys. These new purchases will start in the new year after the existing Operation Twist bond-buying program expires. See MarketWatch’s streaming coverage of the Fed decision.
Under Twist, the Fed offset $400 billion of Treasury purchases with sales of shorter-term debt on its balance sheet. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gives a press conference at 2:15 p.m. See: The Tell blog on one reason Fed bond buys may be smaller than expected.
In addition to the Fed meeting, investors will also pay attention to an auction of 10-year notes. The Treasury Department sold $32 billion in 3-year notes on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks opened higher in anticipation of further monetary stimulus, and as budget negotiations continued in Washington. The S&P 500 index SPX +0.18% was recently up 0.1% at 1,429.64. See: U.S. stocks rise on thoughts of Fed move ahead.
