Firestone specialist Woods back in contention

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWYpvl2xVfRxrOnJ7GaMoD4Q0IPTPwp1cULmiNEqEHPwLAxXj869XK03iGvKXOsnnMX4BlHjYqjPmm03tIlac1f8zd0FVkigwQLTzNNdQ_KMPinxwkCC9_wWG7DzXIL8GjvecuzYIdMw/s1600/golf.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWYpvl2xVfRxrOnJ7GaMoD4Q0IPTPwp1cULmiNEqEHPwLAxXj869XK03iGvKXOsnnMX4BlHjYqjPmm03tIlac1f8zd0FVkigwQLTzNNdQ_KMPinxwkCC9_wWG7DzXIL8GjvecuzYIdMw/s400/golf.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Firestone specialist Woods back in contention</td></tr> </tbody></table> <h2> <a href="http://www.newsupdate360.com/2013/08/firestone-specialist-woods-back-in.html">Firestone specialist Woods back in contention</a></h2> <br /> AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - For Tiger Woods, it was back to business as usual at one of his happiest hunting grounds as he moved ominously into contention at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday.<br />  The world number one has triumphed a record seven times in the elite World Golf Championships (WGC) event at Firestone Country Club and looked as good as ever here on the way to an opening four-under-par 66.<br /> <br />  Woods took advantage of greens softened by overnight rain with some pinpoint iron play to put himself in a good position to push on for his fifth PGA Tour victory of the season.<br /> <br /> "I felt pretty good today," the 14-times major winner told reporters after carding six birdies and two bogeys to end a warm, breezy day at Firestone two strokes behinds pacesetting American Webb Simpson.<br /> "It was a little blustery, the wind was up and the greens were soft but at least the ball was flying. I feel very good about what I'm doing with basically my whole swing. I hit a lot of good shots.<br /> <br /> "I had a really good feel for the distance today, and (caddie) Joey (LaCava) and I really read the wind right today. We changed a few shots out there, and we both had a really good handle on what we were doing feel-wise with the wind."<br /> Woods, who last won here in 2009, birdied four of his last nine holes to surge up the leaderboard at a heavily tree-lined venue where he has always felt extremely comfortable.<br /> <br /> "I've played terrible coming in here and I've played really well coming in and, for some reason on this golf course, I just see it," the 37-year-old said. "It's just one of those venues.<br /> <br /> "Luckily over the years I've taken advantage of it. I have played well and I've scored well, and I've won my share of tournaments here."<br /> <br /> SWING CHANGE<br /> <br /> Woods has posted 11 top-10s in 13 appearances at Firestone, his rare bad weeks here coming in 2010 and 2011 when he was battling back from the breakdown of his marriage and assorted injury problems, while also working on his fourth swing change.<br /> <br /> "Unfortunately some of those times were when I was changing my swing and I was going through that change," he explained. "It's one of those things where you've still got to play well.<br /> <br /> "But I still felt comfortable with what I was seeing out there even though I didn't play well. It's hard to explain, but I just feel comfortable seeing the shots here.<br /> <br /> "You still have to execute, obviously, and over the course of my career here, I've done all right at doing that."</div>

Firestone specialist Woods back in contention Firestone specialist Woods back in contention AKRON, Ohio (Reuters) - For Tiger Woods,...

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More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <h1 class="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 26px; line-height: 1.21em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QluxoGsH467u0ljAUa8UlUq24XKyFb2eFnnDi8G3nRoyJv-XKhFbm2CJriQx0aT0jTh7scnCv8U8SD8hMjXOwO7i4QtIqB299LxqYhGT2a2az38ueA4nPM7jJ5iS4ryHZ7a8eC8i9YI/s1600/More+investors+hold+bullish+U.S.+bond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey images" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_QluxoGsH467u0ljAUa8UlUq24XKyFb2eFnnDi8G3nRoyJv-XKhFbm2CJriQx0aT0jTh7scnCv8U8SD8hMjXOwO7i4QtIqB299LxqYhGT2a2az38ueA4nPM7jJ5iS4ryHZ7a8eC8i9YI/s400/More+investors+hold+bullish+U.S.+bond.jpg" title="More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey pictue" width="400" /></a>More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey</h1> <h3 style="text-align: left;"> </h3> <div> NEW YORK (Reuters) - More investors raised their positions in longer-dated U.S. Treasuries holdings in the latest week in advance of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, according to a survey released on Tuesday.<br /> A total of 19 percent of its Treasuries clients said on Monday they were "long" in their duration on U.S. government debt, or owning more longer-dated Treasuries than their benchmarks, up from 11 percent a week earlier, the latest J.P. Morgan Securities survey showed.<br /> This was the highest share of its clients who said they were long in their duration in about five months.<br /> By holding more longer-dated Treasuries, investors add duration or interest rate risk to their portfolios in anticipation of a market rally when longer-dated bonds generate higher returns than shorter-dated debt.<br /> Treasuries prices have slid and their yields have jumped in recent weeks due to worries the U.S. central bank might reduce its $85 billion monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities later this year, as the U.S. economy has shown tentative signs of sustainable growth.<br /> The rebound in Treasuries longs likely stemmed from bargain-minded investors who bought them after their longer-dated yields rose to 14-month highs last week.<br /> There has also been a persistent view the Fed will stick with its current pace of bond purchases as long as unemployment remains high and inflation runs below its 2 percent target.<br /> Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes traded 7/32 lower in price early Tuesday with a yield of 2.203 percent, up 2.5 basis points from late on Monday. The 10-year yield reached a 14-month high of 2.293 percent a week ago. (US/)<br /> The Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank's policy-setting body, will convene later Tuesday. It is expected to release a policy statement and economic forecasts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, followed by a conference with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. (FED/DIARY)<br /> The bond market has stabilized in recent days, although intraday volatility remained high. This suggested there are fewer investors who are "short" in their Treasuries duration, or own fewer longer-dated Treasuries than their benchmarks.<br /> In J.P. Morgan's latest survey, a total of 15 percent of its Treasuries clients said they were "short," down from 28 percent a week earlier.<br /> The share of "longs" exceeded "shorts" by 4 percentage points in the latest week, compared with a week ago when shorts exceeded longs by 17 points, J.P. Morgan said.<br /> The share of investors who said they held Treasuries equal to their benchmarks rose to 66 percent, from 61 a week earlier.<br /> Among active clients, who are viewed as making speculative bets in Treasuries, 77 percent said their longer-dated Treasuries holdings matched their benchmarks, up from 61 percent the prior week.<br /> The survey showed 15 percent of active "longs," up from 8 percent the prior week.<br /> Only 8 percent of active clients said they were short in duration versus their benchmarks, down sharply from 31 percent a week earlier.<br /> J.P. Morgan surveys 40 to 60 of its Treasuries clients weekly, of which 60 percent are fund managers, 25 percent are speculative accounts and 15 percent are central banks and sovereign wealth funds.</div> </div>

More investors hold bullish U.S. bond bets before FOMC: survey NEW YORK (Reuters) - More investors raised their positions in longer-da...

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