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At this moment, WSJ quotes 10-year T-note as below:

  • Price: $100 3/32

  • Price change: -2/32 (-0.08%)

Question 1: Where does the -0.08% change come from?

To me, it seems the old price is 100 5/32. Until now, the price dropped 2/32. So price now is $100 3/32. Then, the change should be (-2/32) / 100 5/32 = -0.0624%.


Question 2: A few moments later, the quote shows

  • Price: $100 2/32

  • Price change: -2/32 (-0.06%)

How is it possible that, compared from above, the price changed to 100 2/32, but the change is still -2/32?

What exactly does the price change entail? (e.g. from 24 hours ago, or from beginning of day etc.)

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Excluding the possibility of error, on exchanges and other reporting screens a singular price is often some form of average (weighted or simple) between the bid price and the offer price. The change is often published relative to the last traded price.

In this case the bid and offer might change to impact the mid-price but there may in fact be no trade so the change is unaffected, although in your example the way the design is shown I personally find this unhelpful. Most pricing screens that operate in this way make it implicitly clear by displaying in a manner akin to: [Bid Size, Bid Price, Offer Price, Offer Size, Last Trade, Chg on Day]. And in this array you can see how it is easier to understand.

I should state that this is just a guess! I don't actually use WSJ.

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