Treasuries Close Modestly Lower After Seeing Early Strength
After moving modestly higher in early trading, treasuries turned lower over the course of the trading session on Friday. Bond prices pulled back in early afternoon trading and remained in the red going into the close. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.4 basis points to 2.262 percent. The downturn by treasuries may partly have reflected profit taking on the heels of the upward trend seen over the past several sessions. Amid a relatively quiet day on the U.S. economic front, traders also kept an eye on speeches by a pair of Fed officials. In remarks at an event in Fort Smith, Arkansas, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard repeated a speech he delivered at a separate event earlier this month. Bullard noted the market-based probabilities of a near-term end to the zero interest rate policy have increased but stressed any decision will be data dependent. Additionally, New York Fed President William Dudley spoke at Hofstra University on Long Island, telling students the U.S. economy is in pretty good shape. Dudley said the Fed hopes to soon become reasonably confident that inflation will return to the 2 percent inflation target. The New York Fed also stressed that the decision on interest rates would be data dependent, noting that there will be four weeks of data before the next monetary policy meeting. While the markets will be closed next Thursday for Thanksgiving, traders will be presented with a slew of U.S. economic data in the days leading up to the holiday. Traders are likely to pay close attention to reports on new and existing home sales, durable goods orders, and personal income and spending. Bond trading could also be impacted by reaction to the results of the Treasury Department's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes. The Treasury is due to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Monday, $35 billion worth of five-year notes next Tuesday, and $29 billion worth of seven-year notes next Wednesday.
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