Prices fall as stocks gain and before new supply

NEW YORK: US Treasuries fell on Friday, erasing some of Thursday's gains, after stocks jumped and as investors prepared for $72 billion in new supply next week.

The Treasury will sell $32 billion in three-year notes on Tuesday, $24 billion in 10-year notes on Wednesday and $16 billion in 30-year bonds on Thursday.

A stronger-than-expected reduction in the trade deficit on Friday was also seen helping riskier stocks to gain, reducing demand for safe-haven bonds.

"We're just following stocks at this point," said Rick Klingman, a Treasuries trader at BNP Paribas in New York. "The trade deficit number implies that there is going to be a decent upward revision in GDP, so I think that helps with the stocks."

A rise in exports and lower imports of oil helped push the US trade deficit to its narrowest point in nearly three years in December, data showed on Friday.

Benchmark 10-year Treasuries fell 4/32 in price to yield 1.98 percent, up from 1.96 percent late on Thursday.

The note's yield was as low as 1.93 percent on Thursday after comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi raised speculation that the bank would cut interest rates to stem the region's strengthening currency.

Ten-year Treasuries are now trading in the middle of what traders see as a range between around 1.90 percent and 2.04 percent.

"We think we are going to trade in this range for the next few weeks," said Mary Beth Fisher, head of US interest rate strategy at Societe Generale in New York. "It's going to take materially better data to get us above 2.04 percent. It seems to be a range where there is a lot of price support."

A dramatic selloff in late January and early February pushed the 10-year notes to more than eight-month highs of 2.06 percent on Feb. 4. The notes have failed to hold above the 2.04 percent level for very long, however.

Trading volumes are expected to taper off on Friday as residents on the US East Coast prepared for a large snowstorm in the region.

The Federal Reserve bought $1.37 billion in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) due between 2029 and 2042 on Friday as part of its ongoing bond purchase program.