Bond prices steady, watch stocks

Bond investors shrug off bigger-than-expected increase in the Producer Price Index, look for direction from stock market.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Treasury prices were little changed Thursday afternoon as bond investors looked to the stock market for direction and did not dwell on the morning's Producer Price Index report, which showed an unexpected spike in prices.

The benchmark 10-year note gained 1/32, or 31 cents for every $1,000 invested, to yield 4.54 percent, down slightly from late Wednesday.

The 30-year bond rose 4/32, or $1.25 for every $1,000 invested, to yield 4.69 percent, down from 4.70 percent in the previous session. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The five-year note was unchanged, yielding 4.46 percent, while the two-year was also unchanged, yielding 4.58 percent.

In economic news, Thursday morning's report showing a spike in the Producer Price Index made bond investors concerned about the potential for inflation.

The headline PPI reading, released a day prior to the government's release of the Consumer Price Index, showed a 1.3 percent increase in February, well above the median forecast of a 0.5 percent rise among economists polled by Reuters.

The PPI core rate, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose by 0.4 percent last month, twice the median forecast among economists surveyed.

In currency trading, the dollar was mixed against the euro and the yen.

The euro traded at $1.3234, up from $1.3220 late Wednesday, while the dollar stood at ¥117.62, up from ¥117.06 in the previous session.

-- from staff and wire reports


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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.