German 30-year government bond yields were near a record low on speculation Federal Reserve Governor Ben S. Bernanke will signal today his willingness to increase purchases of Treasuries. Ten-year yields were within six basis points of the lowest on record before a report forecast to show German consumer price growth stalled in August. The U.S. economy grew more slowly than initially estimated, a report from the Commerce Department will show, according to the median estimate of 81 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Bernanke is scheduled to speak at 3 p.m. London time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Bernanke’s speech “ comes at a crucial juncture given the role being played in market dynamics by the Fed’s so called quantitative easing,” Nomura International Plc fixed-income strategists led by Nick Firoozye in London wrote in a report today. “Anything less than some hint of this occurring risking a significant correction given the degree of expectancy that has built up.”

The yield on the 10-year bund was one basis point lower at 2.15 percent as of 7:32 a.m. in London. The 2.25 percent security due September 2020 rose 0.055, or 55 euro cents per 1,000-euro ($1,272) face amount, to 100.93.

Two-year yields were little changed at 0.61 percent, and 30-year yields remained at 2.66 percent after reaching a record 264 percent yesterday. The bund yield fell to a record 2.09 percent on Aug. 25.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Aug. 10 it would buy Treasuries for the first time since October using funds from principal payments of its holdings of mortgage-backed debt.

The bonds of so-called peripheral euro-region nations were little changed relative to benchmark German bunds. The extra yield investors demand to hold Irish 10-year bonds instead of their German equivalents stayed at 346 basis points. The Greek- German spread was at 926 basis points, while the Spanish spread widened one basis point to 187 basis points.

The Irish-German spread widened to a record on Aug. 25 after Standard & Poor’s cut Ireland’s credit rating on concern the cost of rescuing Anglo Irish Bank Corp. will exceed the maximum 25 billion euros forecast by the Irish central bank.