NEW YORK: US Treasury prices rose on Wednesday, reversing some of the week's earlier price declines, as traders awaited a statement from the Federal Open Market Committee and worries about the Greek debt swap negotiations bolstered a safe-haven bid for bonds.
The FOMC is finishing its two-day meeting and will release a policy statement at 12:30 p.m. (1730 GMT). Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference at 2:15 p.m.
For the first time, the FOMC statement will include members' forecasts for the fed funds rate in the future, a change market participants are awaiting with great anticipation. No one is quite sure what to expect.
Lou Brien, market strategist at DRW Trading Group in Chicago, said Wednesday's rally was a sign that traders were taking defensive positions.
"We've sold off quite a bit in the last few days," he said. "If the market is going to move after the statement it's going to be because the Fed has confused the market today."
Brien said confusion could lead to more safe-haven Treasury buying.
"The potential for that, not including the mid-2013 forecast in their statement or something unexpected in the outlook for the future path of rates, would confuse the market," he said.
The rally, though small looked ready to complicate the Treasury Department's $35 billion five-year note auction, the second Treasury auction of the week. To accommodate the Fed's schedule, the Treasury moved the auction from its usual 1 p.m. (1800 GMT)time slot to 11:30 a.m. (1630 GMT).
Analysts expect the five-year auction to draw uneven demand, since many regular buyers might be waiting for a cue from the Fed before deciding how much to buy.
In Europe, growing worries the European Central Bank may have to write down its holdings of Greek debt as part of a deal to restructure the country's mountain of debt and unlock the funds needed to avoid a messy default hurt the euro and lifted safe-haven German government bond prices while also pushing up Italian yields.
The Treasury sold $35 billion in two-year notes on Tuesday for a price very near the open-market price of two-year notes at the time. There is a $29 billion sale of seven-year notes scheduled for Thursday.
Celebrations of the Lunar New Year holiday continue to affect markets in Asia this week.
The 10-year Treasury note was last trading 5/32 higher in price and yielding 2.05 percent, down from 2.07 percent at Tuesday's close. The 30-year Treasury bond was last up 7/32 in price for a yield of 3.14 percent, down from 3.15 percent late on Tuesday.
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