TREASURIES-Steady to firmer in Asia as stocks fall
TOKYO, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries were steady to firmer in Asia on Thursday as doubts about the pace of economic recovery dented most regional stock markets, providing some support to lower-risk government debt. * Activity stayed slow, however, with investors awaiting data due later in the day on weekly jobless claims and on factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.
* Another closely watched event on Thursday will be the Treasury's announcement of the size of next week's government note sales. The Treasury is scheduled to auction two-, five-, and seven-year notes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
* Shorter maturities held firm, drawing support from comments by St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, while longer-dated bonds recovered a tad after losing ground the previous day.
* Bullard noted that if the Fed followed its past pattern, it would not raise its target for overnight interest rates until early 2012, although he added there were reasons to think it may not wait that long this time. [nN18103566]
* Longer-dated Treasuries slid on Wednesday when a higher-than-expected inflation reading prompted profit-taking, while weak housing data limited losses. [US/]
* Economists and policymakers are convinced that as inflation is low, it is not a near-term threat to bond values, but some market players believe that a prolonged easy monetary policy would raise inflation risk in the longer-term, a negative for longer maturities.
* T-note futures were up 2/32 to 119-16/32 TYv1. Benchmark 10-year notes were unchanged in price from late New York trade on Wednesday to yield 3.368 percent US10YT=RR.
* Two-year notes were unchanged in price to yield 0.749 percent US2YT=RR. Thirty-year bonds rose 5/32 in price to yield 4.294 percent US30YT=RR, down about a basis point.
* The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits is expected to be 505,000 for the week ended Nov. 14. Any sign that the rate of job losses is slowing, or that the unemployment rate is easing, would likely reduce investor appetite for Treasuries. (Editing by Joseph Radford)
