(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries were little changed, with the yield curve flattening for the first time in six sessions, as traders digest the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's March meeting and await March payrolls data.
The benchmark 10-year yield was 2.34 percent at 4:32 p.m. in New York, after fluctuating between gains and losses, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data. The yield spread between five- and 30-year yields fell from the highest level in more than a month, as the Treasuries curve snapped its longest stretch of steepening since September.
The FOMC's minutes suggested the central bank might begin to stop reinvesting the securities on its balance sheet as they mature. The U.S. probably added 180,000 jobs in March, according to the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey. The Labor Department releases the figures on April 7.
- Short positioning has become less extreme in recent weeks, with speculators' net short positions in 10-year Treasuries declining in the last four weeks, according to CFTC data
- That means “any rally could be short-lived because we'll lack the short-covering urgency to push the move further” BMO Capital Markets strategists said in a morning note
- Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits declined to a five-week low, slumping by 25,000 to 234,000 (forecast was 250,000), highlighting a resilient job market, Labor Department report showed
- S&P 500 Index pares advance of as much as 0.48 percent, ending up about 0.2 percent
- Action across eurodollars signals positioning has cleared a little -- purge of downside structures seems to have given way for fresh downside protection as eurodollar strip reprices
- Large trades in sterling and Euribor 2Y mid-curve option puts appear to target a more hawkish ECB policy path relative to BOE's
--With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke
To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Chappatta in New York at bchappatta1@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Stanton in New York at estanton@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Boris Korby at bkorby1@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka
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