20 March 2001, 09:43  US CREDIT MARKETS: TSYS REMAIN IN DOLDRUMS WAITING FOR TUESDAY FOMC

NEW YORK (MktNews) - Credit markets were unusually quiet Monday with little impetusto trade ahead of Tuesday's FOMC meeting. Treasuries traded in a narrow range amid very light flows. Taking its cue from equities, thecurve flattened as equities managed to spend most of the morning in the black. But evenwhen stocks began to slip, it was not enough to get the treasury market out of its pre-FOMC doldrums. Twos were for sale vs 5s, 10s, and 30s for much of the trading day. Curve steepeners wereunwound as players took profits. The only other major activity in the cash market was position squaring ahead of Tuesday'sFed meeting, sources said. The pit reported light buying in the bond contract as the price rotated slightly higher. Junebonds continued to rotate within a tight 6/32 range with two NY firms as the featured buyersof 1k each. Flows in 10s included a buyer of 1k lots on the open. One featured trade was from one of the co-leads of the jumbo Kellogg multi tranche dealwho sold 1K Jun 5Y futures at the 105-18 level. In a curve play, pit sources said one overseas firm sold 2k Jun 2Y futures versus buying 5Yfutures on a 1.1-to-1 basis. The sources said the firm worked a 500 lot block of the spreadand appeared poised to do more. Options flows were virtually non-existent in bonds, but there were some decent flowsreported in 10Y. Pit sources reported better buying in the April 107 calls along with the Juneand May 109 calls. Buying upside protection Monday was a continuation of Friday"s tradewhen mortgage accounts aggressively bought out-of-the-money calls and rolled into higherstrike prices, sources said. The corporate bond calendar grew with the addition of a $3.5B 3-part American HomeProducts deal along with a $500M Coca Cola 10Y deal. CVS is also said to be entering themarket with $300M of a 5Y 144A. Pricing on all three issues is said to be sometime thisweek. The bill auction was mixed, with the 3 month coming at 4.37%, about 3 basis points betterthan pre-auction talk. The bid-to-cover was 2.36. The 6 month came at 4.22%, a bitcheaper than pre-auction talk of 4.21%. The bid to cover was 2.27.

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