TREASURIES-Inch up in Asia as stocks dip, earnings in focus
TOKYO, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries inched up in Asia on Monday, with shaky equity markets providing light support as the market awaited earnings reports from major U.S. financial institutions later in the week.
* The bond market was waiting to see whether Wall Street can retain its momentum after a sharp upswing over the past month, with a slew of corporate earnings slated for this week.
* Particular focus was on the earnings releases of big financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and Citigroup (C.N) and their impact on equity markets.
* Fixed-income analysts also awaited U.S. economic data, including March retail sales on Tuesday and March housing starts on Thursday, to see if the rebounds in February have been sustained or were one-off events.
* In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average .N225 was down 0.1 percent at midday after spending much of the morning dipping in and out of the red. [.T] U.S. stock futures SPc1 shed 0.6 percent.
* The two-year note US2YT=RR rose 1/32 in price to yield 0.936 percent, down about 3 basis points from late U.S. trade on Thursday. The benchmark 10-year note US10YT=RR climbed 2/32 in price to yield 2.911 percent, down about 1 basis point.
* The Treasury market was closed on Friday for a public holiday.
