Investors were less optimistic on the outlook for US Treasury debt in the latest week, although with benchmark yields trading not far off record lows, most maintained a neutral position, a survey showed on Tuesday. The share of investors who said they were long US government debt, or holding more Treasuries than their portfolio benchmarks on the US bond market, eased to 11 percent on Monday from 17 percent in the previous week, J.P. Morgan Securities said in a weekly Treasury client survey.
The survey showed the fewest outright longs since August 29, J.P. Morgan said. The number of investors who said they were neutral, or holding Treasuries equal to their portfolio benchmarks, rose to 72 percent from 66 percent last week. The share of investors who were short on Monday, or owning fewer Treasuries than their benchmarks, was unchanged from the previous week at 17 percent, J.P. Morgan said.
Data showing tepid jobs growth in the US last month fuelled safe-haven buying of Treasuries on Friday, pushing benchmark 10-year note yields to a record low of 1.44 percent. General worries about a global economic slowdown and fears of the fallout from Europe's debt crisis have also driven recent buying of US government debt. Benchmark 10-year notes on Thursday were trading 9/32 lower in price to yield 1.55 percent, up from 1.52 percent late Monday. Among active clients and including market makers and hedge funds, which are seen to take on speculative bets in Treasuries, the share of those who said they were long Treasuries dipped to zero from 8 percent in the prior week.