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Bond jumps on Japan ills
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December 14, 1998: 9:23 a.m. ET
Poor Tankan survey lifts bond while dollar faces pressure amid Clinton woes
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - U.S. Treasurys climbed early Monday as stocks tumbled in Japan and sent investors running for the safety of bonds.
At around 9 a.m. ET, the benchmark 30-year Treasury issue was up 19/32 in price at 104, while the yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 4.98 percent.
Stocks in Tokyo fell more than 2 percent after a report on business confidence in Japan suggested that the worst is yet to come for the world's second-largest economy as it tries to emerge from recession.
The Japanese yen was down nearly a full yen to 115.60 to the dollar. But the greenback was seen to be under pressure from looming efforts to impeach President Clinton in the House of Representatives.
The German mark was off about a full pfennig to 1.6520 against the greenback.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, authorities in Japan inked a deal to nationalize the embattled Nippon Credit Bank, which also weighed on stocks there.
Those blows to stocks in Japan -- and signs that the follow-through was continuing over to European, Latin American and U.S. markets -- led to a greater attraction of bonds as a safety net because of the fixed returns they offer.
Based on S&P Futures trading, the Dow Jones industrial average appeared set to fall sharply as Wall Street trading opens Monday. 
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