Trade Deficit Worry Nearly Halts Activity In Eurodollar Bonds --- Special to The Wall Street Journal
LONDON -- Eurodollar bond activity nearly ground to a halt on expectations that the January U.S. trade deficit to be released today widened more than initially forecast.</br></br>Meanwhile, more economic data were released that analysts said confirmed their belief that the U.S. economy will not slip into recession this year.</br></br>Amid bearish news for the dollar markets, new issues emerged in sterling, yen, and European currency units. United Biscuits Finance NV, a unit of the British food concern United Biscuits (Holdings) PLC, launched a well-received offering of #110 million ($203 million) of convertible preference shares.</br></br>Seasoned Eurodollar bonds were marked off about 1/4 point to maintain spreads over U.S. government bonds, but traders reported very little trading activity.</br></br>The U.S. bonds slipped after it was reported that February housing starts increased 8.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.5 million units. Economists had expected a 5.3% increase.