CREDIT : Bond Prices Steady in ‘Dead Calm’ Market

NEW YORK — Bond prices barely budged in lethargic trading Thursday as the market looked for more evidence on the strength of the economy.

The Treasury’s bellwether 30-year bond finished unchanged and its yield held steady at 8.31%, the same as Wednesday.

Most traders were said to be keeping a low profile in anticipation of the Labor Department’s unemployment report for February, which is due out Friday and could shed more light on the economy’s strength.

“It’s been a dead calm in the bond market for the last several days,” said Harold Nathan, senior financial economist for Wells Fargo & Co. in San Francisco.

Prices of short-term government issues were unchanged to 1/32 point higher, while intermediate maturities and 20-year issues were unchanged, according to figures provided by Telerate Inc.

The movement of a point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 6.438%, down from 6.50% Wednesday.

In corporate trading, industrials and utilities were unchanged in light trading, according to the investment firm Salomon Bros.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills were unchanged at 5.60%. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Six-month bills rose 4 basis points to 5.86% and one-year bills edged up 2 basis points at 6.16%.

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