30-year dips ahead of inflation reports.

WASHINGTON The Treasury long bond slipped modestly yesterday as market participants squared their positions or sat on the sidelines in anticipation of the government inflation reports that come out today and tomorrow.

Late yesterday, the 30-year Treasury bond was quoted down 10/32 at a price of 95 14/32 to yield 7.89%. That was little changed from Tuesday's closing yield of 7.87%.

"It was a ho-hum day," said James Ho, a portfolio manager at John Hancock Mutual Funds in Boston. Traders were probably "a little nervous" ahead of today's producer price report and tomorrow's consumer price report, Ho said.

The slide in the long bond may have been helped by a report by the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank that its prices paid index came in at 40.5 in September, and its national business activity index for the month was 18.1.

Late yesterday, the 10-year Treasury note also was quoted down 10/32, at a price of 96 92/32 to yield 7.70%.

Meanwhile, the short end was mixed. The yield on the three-month Treasury bill was quoted up four basis points at 5.11%, and the yield on the six-month bill was quoted down two basis points at 5.57%.

In other news yesterday, the Treasury called the 7 7/8% bond of 1995-2000, dated Feb. 18, 1975, and due Feb. 15. 2000. This was only the fifth such call since 1962, the Treasury said.

-- Dean PattersonTreasury Market Yields Previous Previous Wednesday Week Month 3-Month Bill 5.10 5.08 4.676-Month Bill 5.55 5.59 5.121-Year Bill 5.99 6.06 5.392-Year Note 6.65 6,70 6.283-Year Note 6.95 7.01 6.585-Year Note 7.34 7.42 7.007-Year Note 7.49 7.58 7.1910-Year Note 7.68 7.74 7.3830-Year Bond 7.89 7.94 7.66

Source: Cantor, Fitzgerald / Telerate

Stats

Stock Market: The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 1.68 points yesterday to close at 3875.15.

Foreign Exchange: In late New York trading yesterday, the dollar was quoted at 99.75 Japanese yen and 1.5407 German marks.

Commodities: The Commodity Research Bureau's index closed down 0.14 point yesterday at 227.74.

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