Treasuries Close Roughly Flat After Early Move To The Upside

(RTTNews) - Treasuries extended yesterday's rally in early trading on Friday but gave back ground over the course of the session.

Bond prices pulled back well off their early highs, ending the day roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, closed unchanged at 4.093 percent after hitting a low of 4.066 percent.

Treasuries initially benefitted from their appeal as a safe haven amid continued weakness on Wall Street, where stocks extended yesterday's slump amid concerns about valuations.

The early strength among treasuries also came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has deteriorated by much more than anticipated in the month of November.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index slid to 50.3 in November after falling to 53.6 in October. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 53.2.

With the much bigger than expected decrease, the consumer sentiment index dropped to its lowest level since hitting a record low of 50.0 in June 2022.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, with a recovery attempt on Wall Street leading some traders to pull their money back out of bonds.

The major U.S. stocks indexes climbed well off their worst levels in afternoon trading, possibly reflecting optimism about an end to the prolonged government shutdown following an offer from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer.

Schumer offered to provide Democratic support for passage of a short-term funding bill to reopen the government in exchange for Republican support for a one-year extension of enhanced Obamacare tax credits.