Bloomberg reports that, just as Dow 11,000 seems inevitable today, so too does a four percent yield on the government’s benchmark ten-year note, all of which should make this week’s heavy load of new debt issuance by the Treasury Department much more interesting.
Treasury 10-year note yields approached 4 percent for the first time since June as reports on U.S. service industries and pending home sales added to signs the U.S. economic recovery is gaining traction.
Ten-year yields rose for a third day as the Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of non-manufacturing businesses expanded in March at the fastest pace in almost four years and pending home sales last month gained the most since October 2001.
The 10-year note yield rose 5 basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 3.99 percent at 10:48 a.m. in New York. That’s the highest level since June 11.
The on again – off again home buyer tax credit will undoubtedly produce another surge in homebuying this spring as it did last fall and this is already showing up in the February data. Interestingly, after monthly home sales plummeted last fall when the first round of tax credits was about to expire, this makes for even better headlines for the month-to-month increases, all of which will no doubt delude many homebuyers into thinking that the housing market really has hit bottom.
As for the Treasury Department, they’ll be selling a whopping $165 billion in debt this week including some $82 billion in long-dated issues – $40 billion 3-year notes, $21 billion in 10-year notes, $13 billion in 30-year bonds, and $8 billion in 10-year TIPS. This has become almost a routine, every-other-week affair that could see its first big headwind in the days ahead if yields keep rising.










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This is not happening in California (based on MLS data that I have access to). All the pending increases must be happening in states where $8,000 actually means something for the prices.
You are correct. From Econoday: “The Midwest was the strongest market in February, jumping 21.8 percent, with both the South, the biggest region, and the Northeast showing solid month-to-month gains. The West fell back a bit.”
Most of the bad loans that the banks are hiding are in California, Arizona, and Florida and that’s where sales are going down again. In fact, March sales in my area were about 15% less than last year.
Tim,
Are you going to do a story on
Greenspan, You’re Losing The Argument Against Michael Burry, Stop Digging And Stop Acting Like A Fool
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/04/05/businessinsider-greenspan-on-michael-burry-scion-capital-2010-4.DTL
I covered that subject yesterday in:
http://timiacono.com/index.php/2010/04/04/robert-reich-on-alan-greenspan/
But, there’s the big Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing on Wednesaday, so, I’m trying not to overload on ‘ol Greenie so early in the week:
http://timiacono.com/index.php/2010/03/31/the-fcic-and-witness-number-one/