Dealers Declining Bernanke Twist Invitation - Bloomberg

Dealers Declining Bernanke Twist Invitation - Bloomberg

The world’s biggest bond dealers offered an average of $7.2 billion in Treasuries a day to the central bank in June, down 40.5 percent from a high of $12.1 billion in October, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The amount tendered has fallen even as the dealers almost doubled their holdings of the securities.
While the amount of marketable U.S. government debt outstanding has risen to more than $10.5 trillion, Treasuries are proving scarce in a world where five nations in Europe have sought bailouts, the U.S. economy is slowing again and China is weakening. That means interest rates on everything from mortgages to corporate bonds should remain at about record lows.
“People are not willing to sell Treasuries,” said Thanos Bardas, a managing director in Chicago at Neuberger Berman LLC, which oversees about $89 billion in fixed-income assets, in a June 28 telephone interview. “The data in the U.S. doesn’t look as good. The labor market has lost momentum. There will be more upside left in Treasuries despite the low levels of rates.”