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Rates on U.S. government debt fell further Monday morning after construction- and manufacturing-related data came in below economists’ estimates. In data released on Monday, U.S. construction spending fell 0.1% for the month of April versus economists’ forecast for a 0.2% gain. In addition, the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing purchasing managers index came in at 48.7%, or below the median forecast of 49.6%, as the sector contracted for a second straight month. Traders are looking ahead to Friday’s release of the official jobs report for May, which is expected to show a 178,000 gain versus 175,000 in the prior month,...

The Federal Reserve’s point man on financial regulation said the Treasury market has grown so large that some level of central bank involvement may need to continue to ensure orderly trading conditions. Randal Quarles, the Fed’s vice chairman for supervision, was discussing the outlook for the central bank’s $120 billion-a-month in purchases of Treasury and mortgage debt. Those purchases ramped up in March as the central bank responded to market and economic stress caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The functioning of financial markets has improved since the tumult earlier in the year, raising questions about whether the Fed could pull...

<p>Even the top federal agencies in the country couldn't find a clear-cut cause that triggered the whiplash in the U.S. Treasury bond market last October 15. The conclusion came from a report published Monday by five federal agencies, including the Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission.</p>

(CNSNews.com) - Since President Barack Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the Federal Reserve’s holdings of U.S. government debt have quintupled, according to the Fed’s official monthly balance sheet. On Jan. 28, 2009, a week after Obama’s nomination, the Fed owned $302 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. On April 25, 2012, the latest date reported, the Fed owned five and a half time that much in U.S. Treasury securities--$1.668 trillion. That is an increase from January 2009 of $1.366 trillion—or 452 percent. Under Obama, the Federal Reserve has become the single largest owner of U.S. government debt. When Obama entered...

POTENZA, Italy (Reuters) - Italian police said on Friday they had seized about $6 trillion worth of fake U.S. Treasury bonds and other securities in Switzerland, and arrested eight Italians accused of international fraud and other financial crimes. The operation, co-ordinated by prosecutors from the southern Italian city of Potenza, was carried out by Italian, Swiss and U.S. authorities after a year-long investigation, an Italian police source said. It began as a investigation into mafia loan-sharking, but gradually expanded as prosecutors used telephone and computer intercepts to unearth evidence of illegal activity surrounding Treasury bonds. The fake securities, worth more...

DAVID BARBOZA However grim Washington’s debt and deficit negotiations may seem to Americans, the impasse is nearly as disturbing for China. As the United States’ biggest foreign creditor — holding an estimated $1.5 trillion in American government debt — China has been a vocal critic of what it considers Washington’s politicized profligacy. “We hope that the U.S. government adopts responsible policies and measures to guarantee the interests of investors,” Hong Lei, a foreign ministry spokesman, said at a news conference late last week. Beijing might prefer to respond by starting to dump some of its American debt. But in this...

Last night I had quite an unexpected surprise. You see, at my hotel here in Thessaloniki, there’s a delegation from some group of the European Parliament called the Committee on Regional Development. They’re here to help… Hey, isn’t that what they always say? The Committee wants to supervise Greece working its way out of the debt crisis and make sure that Greece’s poor are getting the support they need. The hotel’s restaurant was filled with these sycophantic parasites last night– an entire room full of people with a superiority complex who think that they are entitled to make decisions about...

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks plunged Tuesday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down almost 300 points at the opening, as the nuclear crisis in Japan intensified following Friday’s deadly earthquake and tsunami. The Dow was down 205 points, or 1.7 percent, at 11,787 in late-morning trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 22, or 1.7 percent, at 1,274. The Nasdaq composite index is down 44, or 1.7 percent, at 2,656... Investors are seeking the relative safety of U.S. Treasurys, sending prices higher and yields lower. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note dropped to 3.23 percent from...

<p>President Barack Obama has recently unveiled bold new plans for government programs and tax breaks to try to boost the economy. These initiatives have no price tag yet, but they will require significant spending.</p> <p>You can debate whether new highway and bridge projects and sundry tax breaks will help the economy. That's a political question. But as the U.S. government piles borrowing atop more borrowing, it begs a financial question that is not utterly ridiculous: Are your U.S. Treasury bonds safe?</p>

Milan (AsiaNews) – Four weeks have passed since American bonds were confiscated from two Japanese who were travelling on a direct train to Chiasso, Switzerland, and while there has been clarification of some points, very few, Italian authorities have remained silent on the rest of the episode. In addition, a strange coincidence in the timing of the arrest of a director of an internet radio who had made revelations regarding the incident increases the already strong oddities surrounding the case. This added to the revaluation of the fact that among the evidence seized there were "Kennedy Bond" all points toward...

SNIPPET: "It was discovered, according to police, that McFarland allegedly cashed stolen saving bonds at the same bank five days earlier. McFarland, a wanted parolee, was booked at the San Joaquin County Jail on charges including burglary, forgery, possession and use of fake identification cards, possession of stolen property, and an outstanding Santa Clara County warrant and parole violation."

Good morning America! On June 3, either an attempted attack on the economy of the U.S. on an unprecedented scale was narrowly averted--or a criminal conspiracy involving the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve that would legitimize the most radical of globalist conspiracies of all time--was exposed. In either event, a deliberate media blackout was employed in the U.S. When news of the event gained traction in the foreign media, the U.S. media was compelled to report it as well, but only after facts could be changed and damage control employed by the highest levels of the U.S. government, aided and...

The Treasury Department will do something unprecedented next week and it may have serious ramifications for both U.S. Treasury bonds and the economy as a whole. The Treasury announced Thursday a record $104 billion worth of bond auctions for next week, part of its herculean efforts to finance a rescue of the world's largest economy. The sales will exceed the previous record of $101 billion set in auctions that took place in the last week of April and consist of two-year, five-year and seven-year securities. That record was matched by another $101 billion week in May. Though next week's total...

Rising long-term interest rates are making it more expensive for home buyers, corporations and the U.S. government to borrow money, threatening to further stifle an already weak economy.

ROME — Two Japanese nationals were detained by Italian financial police last week after trying to enter Switzerland with $134 billion worth of undeclared U.S. bonds, mostly Treasury bonds, an Italian daily said Wednesday. The Japanese consulate general in Milan confirmed that the detention had taken place and said it was trying to confirm with Italian authorities whether the two were indeed Japanese nationals and their identities. According to the report in il Giornale, two unidentified Japanese in their 50s concealed the bonds, including 249 U.S. Treasury bonds each worth $500 million, in a suitcase with a false bottom that...

Investors have been blindsided by one financial catastrophe after another over the last 18 months, but throughout the tumult, the government bond market has been their friend. Until now.

The nation’s debt clock is ticking faster than ever — and Wall Street is getting worried. As the Obama administration racks up an unprecedented spending bill for bank bailouts, Detroit rescues, health care overhauls and stimulus plans, the bond market is starting to push up the cost of trillions of dollars in borrowing for the government. Last week, the yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose to its highest level since November, briefly touching 3.17 percent, a sign that investors are demanding larger returns on the masses of United States debt being issued to finance an economic recovery. ... Already, in...

In the current recession, people are looking for safe places to put their money as a "store of value." Treasury securities -- "treasuries" -- are direct government obligations offering interest and 24-hour liquidity. Insulating their owners from theft and bank failure, some regard treasuries as the safest form of cash. In 2008, there was a massive flight to the safety of treasuries. It was a year of bumper gains for those invested in them. In 2009, however, treasuries are increasingly at risk of becoming the next asset bubble to burst. Worse still, if the U.S. dollar is devalued as a...

S Korea pension fund shuns US debt By Song Jung-a in Seoul, Andrew Wood in Hong Kong and Michael MacKenzie in New York Published: March 26 2008 19:39 | Last updated: March 26 2008 19:39 The world’s fifth-largest pension fund will no longer buy US Treasuries because yields are too low. The move signals what could be a big shift by financial institutions away from US government debt into higher-yielding assets. South Korea’s National Pension Service, which has $220bn in assets, said on Wednesday it wanted to broaden its range of overseas investments. “It is difficult to buy more US...

China sells more US T-bonds By Shangguan Zhoudong (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2007-06-19 15:23 China sold more US treasury bonds in April than any time in at least seven years, a signal that the nation may be diversifying the world's largest foreign-exchange reserves, Shanghai Securities News reported today. Statistics from the US Treasury Department show that China sold a net US$5.8 billion of T-bonds, the first drop in holdings since October 2005. Japan remains the largest holder of US T-bonds, with its holdings reaching US$614.8 billion in April, according to the statistics. China remained the second-largest holder of US T-bonds, as its...