During the quarter, market participants began to give more weight to strengthening economic news, discounting the Fed’s stated commitment to hold short-term interest rates low into 2014. The steady decline in weekly initial unemployment claims, which is now translating into monthly job gains, is especially encouraging.
Technical factors, as well as growth optimism, saw rates drift modestly higher across the Treasury yield curve, with the 2-year note rising 13 basis points to a high yield of 0.39% on March 20th, before ending the quarter at 0.33%. National Investment Fund for Credit Unions (NIFCU$) 1st Quarter 2012 Market Commentary(Click on link to view on SlideShare for download.)