TREASURIES-U.S. Treasury yields fall after ECB announces bond purchases
(Adds quotes, details, updates prices)
* U.S. yields fall; ECB purchases larger than expected
* German bond yields fall to record lows
* ECB stimulus seen supporting U.S. interest rate hike
By Karen Brettell
NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury prices rose on
Thursday after the European Central Bank announced more bond
purchases than expected, boosting global liquidity that is
expected to support U.S. and European bonds.
The ECB said it would buy government bonds from this March
until the end of September 2016 despite opposition from
Germany's Bundesbank and concerns in Berlin that it could allow
spendthrift countries to slacken economic reforms.
"It's likely to impact yields everywhere," said Aaron Kohli,
an interest rate strategist at BNP Paribas (Xetra: 887771 - news) in New York. "When
you put this much stimulus into the markets its going to go
other places that you hadn't intended, and one of those places
is going to be U.S. debt as well."
The bond purchases will further reduce the supply of
high-quality debt, which has supported long-dated Treasuries as
investors reach for higher yields. That is likely to continue to
support bonds even as investors also anticipate improving growth
and inflation that should eventually push yields higher.
"It's bullish for Treasuries," said Kim Rupert, managing
director of Action Economics in San Francisco. "We've seen
record low yields in the periphery in Europe, and that will
provide an underpinning for Treasuries for widening spreads."
Benchmark 10-year notes were last yielding 1.87
percent, after falling as low as 1.82 percent earlier, down from
1.94 percent before the announcement. Thirty-year bonds
yielded 2.46 percent, after going as low as 2.41
percent, down from 2.54 percent before the ECB announcement.
German 10-year government bond yields hit record
lows of 0.377 percent after the ECB press conference.
The ECB's stimulus may also provide a backstop that will
help the Federal Reserve raise interest rates, which many expect
to begin in the first half of this year.
"It's a really big positive for the Fed, it gets another
major central bank into the system of trying to prop up the
markets and support risk sentiment," BNP (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) 's Kohli said.
The next major focus for the market is the Fed's Jan. 28
policy announcement at the completion of its two-day meeting.
(Additional reporting by Michael Connor; Editing by Lisa Von
Ahn and Paul Simao)