A closely watched exchange traded fund indexed to long-term U.S. Treasury bonds rose 1% on Thursday as the ETF tried to reverse a string of seven consecutive down days.
The iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond (NYSEArca: TLT) was trading around $115.50 a share on Thursday after topping out just above $125 earlier this month. [Treasury ETF Sell-Off Picks Up Speed as Yields Leap]
U.S. 30-year bonds ended their longest losing streak in four years as the Treasury Department prepared to sell $13 billion of the securities, Bloomberg reported. The U.S. auctioned $21 billion of 10-year notes on Wednesday.
“The world is not a better place,” said Scott Graham, head of government bond trading at Bank of Montreal’s BMO Capital Markets unit, in the Bloomberg report. “Europe is kicking tires of a possible solution, but we haven’t seen any credible package yet. The front end is getting a pop from what the Fed said yesterday with regard to the possibility of more quantitative easing.”