Investors stay mostly neutral on bonds outlook

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors remained largely neutral on the outlook for U.S. Treasury debt prices in the latest week after the government said it would take over mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

The share of investors surveyed who said on Monday they were "neutral," or holding U.S. government securities equal to their portfolio benchmarks, rose to 76 percent from 74 percent in the prior week, J.P. Morgan Securities said.

Investors who said they were "long," or holding more Treasuries than their benchmarks, fell to 13 percent from 19 percent a week ago, J.P. Morgan said.

In the meantime, the number of investors who said they were "short," or holding less Treasuries than their portfolio benchmarks, rose to 11 percent from 7 percent, the firm said.

The survey has shown investors to be largely neutral on the outlook for Treasuries for months, and that did not change following the government's weekend announcement that it would take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Meanwhile, among active clients which include market makers and hedge funds, 8 percent of them said they were "neutral" on Treasuries, up from 7 percent last week.

Those who said they were "long" Treasuries eased to 3 percent from 5 percent, while 2 percent said they were "short," up from 1 percent the week earlier.