HONG KONG: US Treasury prices rose on Thursday as concerns over Portugal's fiscal predicament eroded investor confidence, stoking safety bids for bonds ahead of a $11 billion auction of inflation-protected securities.
* Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned as expected on Wednesday after the parliament rejected his government's proposed budget cuts in an attempt to avoid a bailout. This development raised worries of further weakening of the euro zone economically and undermines its single currency . For the latest, see
* Western air strikes in Libya and unrest in Yemen, together with the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan, have kept investors on edge.
* "It's a time when everything is geopolitical," a Singapore-based Treasuries trader at a US primary dealer said. While the mood is grim, "we need another series of really bad news from any or all of these countries for us to go back to the lows in yields we saw last week," he said.
* Most Asian stocks showed resilience, limiting the overnight gains in Treasuries. The MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index was up 0.63 percent, while Japanese stocks were down 0.2 percent. As for US shares, S&P e-mini futures were off 0.1 percent.
* June 10-year T-note futures were up 4/32 at 120-3/32 from Wednesday's close on light volume. Technical signals suggest they could retest the intraday high of 120-23/32 on Monday.
* Benchmark 10-year cash Treasury notes were up 6/32 in price to yield 3.33 percent, down from 3.35 percent late on Wednesday. The 10-year yield has bounced in a tight 10-basis-point range this week after falling to three-month low of 3.14 percent last week.
* On the data front, the US government is scheduled to release reports on durable goods and jobless claims. They are expected to provide a more encouraging view on the US economy, a day after a report that showed a stunning 16.9 percent drop in new home sales in February. See
* "We suspect that the market could have trouble finding direction amid the mix of firmer data and continuing global worries," Gennadiy Goldberg, fixed income analyst at 4Cast Inc. wrote in a research note.
* In addition to US data, the government will look to raise $11 billion from a reopening of a prior 10-year TIPS issue at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT). Analysts expect decent demand for the latest TIPS supply in the wake of recent data that showed growing inflationary pressure from the surge in oil and food prices this year.
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