CREDIT MARKETS

Treasuries:
Treasury prices stayed lower Friday, pushing 10-year yields to their highest levels since mid-March, after a pair of government reports showed durable-goods orders and new-home sales were better than expected, raising hopes that some areas of the economy may have found a bottom. Ten year yields touched 3 percent for the first time since the Federal Reserve said five weeks ago it would buy government debt to drive down consumer borrowing costs. Purchases of new homes in the U.S. last month were higher than anticipated, providing further evidence the market may be stabilizing. Sales decreased 0.6 percent to an annual pace of 356,000. Orders for U.S. durable goods dropped 0.8 percent in March, following a revised 2.1 percent increase in February. Next week also brings the Federal Reserve’s policy-setting meeting. At the most recent meeting, in March, the central bank surprised markets by saying it planned to buy $300 billion of Treasury securities in an effort to keep lending rates low and spur economic growth. Treasuries are benchmarks for corporate debt, mortgages, consumer-loan rates on things like automobiles, and municipal debt, so keeping yields low is intended to make borrowing on all of those more affordable. Benchmark 10-year-note yields plunged a half percentage point on the announcement, but have come almost all the way back up to near 3 percent since then, raising questions about whether the Fed will be satisfied with the level of rates. To date, the Fed has purchased $80.81 billion of U.S. debt under this program. Economic news for the week will focus on FOMC rate decision, 1st quarter GDP, ISM manufacturing and U of M confidence.

Commentary/New Issues

Corporate:
Nothing

ABS:
Nothing

Agency:
Nothing

New Issues larger than $250mm. The fixed income offerings mentioned above are for informational purposes only. Toussaint Capital Partners, LLC, member NASD/SIPC, and/or its affiliates may be a participant in the offering mentioned and therefore offerings will be subject to availability.
All statistical data is sourced from Bloomberg Financial Markets.