NEW YORK: US Treasuries prices gained on Monday as global equity prices fell amid concerns over sluggish economic growth in China and falling commodity prices, ahead of Friday's highly anticipated employment report.
Worries about global growth have reduced investor appetite for risk and increased demand for safe-haven bonds, even as US data shows a still-strengthening economy.
A 30 percent plunge in shares of mining giant Glencore traded in London, and an 8.8 percent drop in Chinese industrial firms' profits triggered the most recent investor anxiety, dragging down copper below $5,000 a ton.
"We are still trapped between the various parts of the global market that aren't doing well and expectations for good US data," said Jim Vogel, an interest rate strategist at FTN Financial in Memphis, Tennessee.
Yields briefly rose from their session lows on Monday after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said he expects the US central bank to raise interest rates this year for the first time in nearly a decade.
Dudley said he was confident that weak global economic conditions and the strong US dollar would not permanently hold down inflation in the US, or dislodge people's expectations about the path of price increases.
Some investors have pushed back their expectations on when the Fed is expected to raise rates after the US central bank kept rates on hold at its September meeting.
The next major focus for the market will be Thursday's manufacturing data and Friday's employment report for September, both of which, analysts said, could sway the central bank to boost rates by year-end.
In early US trading, 10-year Treasuries were up 13/32 in price to yield 2.119 percent, down 5 basis points from late Friday.
The 30-year bond was up 31/32 in price to yield 2.906, down from 2.96 percent late Friday.
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