Prices drop despite good news for bonds.

Washington - A desire to clear the decks at every opportunity over-shadowed bond-friendly economic news yesterday, sending Treasury note and bond prices lower, analysts said.

The benchmark long bond was quoted down 12/32 late yesterday at a price of 92 30/32, pushing the yield up four basis points to 8.13%. The 10-year note lost nearly as much, falling 10 ticks to a price of 99 1/32, which pushed the yield up to 8.01%.

All this transpired after the Commerce Department said that housing starts dropped 5.2% in October - the first downward turn in four months.

Also, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that its index of regional manufacturing activity declined, helped by falling product and input price components.

One senior money manager said he expects bond prices to continue deteriorating through the end of the year because portfolio managers have already taken a beating this year, and few have the energy to try to earn back any of the losses between now and Jan. 1.

Expectations by some economists of growth well in excess of 3% in the fourth quarter don't help either, he said. Treasury Market Yields Previous Previous Thursday Week Month 3-Month Bill 5.46 5.36 5.116-Month Bill 6.02 5.88 5.651-Year Bill 6.59 6.36 6.162-Year Note 7.16 7.04 6.743-Year Note 7.48 7.39 7.045-Year Note 7.76 7.69 7.447-Year Note 7.87 7.82 7.6210-Year Note 7.99 7.97 7.7730-Year Bond 8.12 8.14 7.99Source: Cantor, Fitzgerald/Telerate

Stats

Stock Market: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.15 points yesterday to close at 3828.05.

Foreign Exchange: In the New York trading yesterday, the dollar was quoted at 98.31 Japanese yen and 1.5528 German marks.

Commodities: The Commodity Research Bureau's index closed up 0.80 point yesterday, at 233.65.

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