To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (18468 ) 6/24/1999 4:54:00 PM From: Les H Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 99985
*** US TSY MKT SOFT; SOME BARGAIN HUNTING BUT SENTIMENT NEGATIVE 14:20 EDT 06/24 NEW YORK (MktNews) - U.S. Treasuries held a heavy tone midafternoon Thursday in thin volume as decent bottom fishing kept the market from edging lower, sources said. Traders said the session's thin volume was significant. One trader said there is no real volume in any specific contract. Dealers continued to refer to the market as a "buyers' strike." "There are no natural buyers right now. Whatever paper comes in, there is no room for it," said a trader at a primary dealer. Earlier, sources reported a lot of selling of euroland bonds but market players wondered where the money was re-allocated. At the same time, hedge funds were said to be meeting redemptions and therefore the proceeds for the sale of eurobonds were not going into Treasuries. Analysts expected sentiment to continue to be negative as concerns about a Federal Reserve rate hike pressured the market. The Fed Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet June 29-30. Michael Moran, chief economist at Daiwa Securities, expected the Fed to increase short term rates 25 basis points next week with "another move in August." GovPX posted volume of $49.3 billion at 1:36 p.m. EDT. The yield on the 30-year bond was 6.195% at 1:34 p.m. EDT compared with 6.162% at 11:27 a.m. EDT. *** GROUP OF US HILL DEMOCRATS SET TO URGE FED NOT TO HIKE RATES 12:43 EDT 06/24 --Senior Democrats on House Banking Committee, Joint Economic Panel Set to Urge Fed Not to Act Preemptively --Democrats May Be Seeking to Prevent Second Round of Tightening in August By John Shaw WASHINGTON (MktNews) - A group of House Democrats will hold a briefing Thursday afternoon to urge the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee not to increase interest rates in its coming meeting. However, the group's real goal may be to prevent a possible second tightening move by the Fed later this summer. Several senior Democrats on the House Banking panel will be joined at the briefing by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume. The ranking Democrat on the House Banking panel, Rep. John LaFalce, will be joined at the briefing by other top Democrats on the panel such as Rep. Bruce Vento and Rep. Barney Frank as well as Rep. Pete Stark, the senior Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee. The Democratic lawmakers are likely to echo arguments offered last week by Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa. In a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Harkin urged him to "continue the progressive monetary policy the FOMC has been following." "Mr. Chairman, please do not change your current policy of waiting until real signs of inflation appear in the economy before raising interest rates," Harkin said to Greenspan. "Raising short term interest rates at this point would be premature and could have very negative effects not only on the U.S. economy, but on the economies of several struggling economies around the world," he added. The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet on June 29 and June 30 and is expected to increase the federal funds target rate by at least 25 basis points from the current level of 4.75%. There is considerable speculation that a second round of tightening could occur at the FOMC's August meeting.