WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Treasuries moved modestly higher during trading on Friday, extending the upward trend seen over the past several sessions.
Bond prices gave back ground after an early advance but remained in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.5 basis points to 4.213 percent.
The ten-year yield moved lower for the fourth consecutive session, falling to its lowest closing level in well over two months.
Treasuries continued to benefit from encouraging inflation data, as the Labor Department released a report showing unexpected decreases by U.S. import and export prices in the month of May.
The Labor Department said import prices fell by 0.4 percent in May following a 0.9 percent advance in April. Economists had expected import prices to inch up by 0.1 percent.
Prices for fuel imports led the way lower, tumbling by 2.0 percent, although prices for non-fuel imports also dipped by 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the report said export prices slid by 0.6 percent in May after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.6 percent in April.
Economists had expected export prices to come in unchanged compared to the 0.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
A report from the University of Michigan showed a continued deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of June.
The report said the consumer sentiment index fell to 65.6 in June after tumbling to 69.1 in May. Economists had expected the index to rebound to 72.0.
With the unexpected decrease, the consumer sentiment index dropped to its lowest level since hitting 61.3 in November 2023.
On the inflation front, the report said year-ahead inflation expectations were unchanged at 3.3 percent in June, above the 2.3-3.0 percent range seen in the two years prior to the pandemic.
Long-run inflation expectations, on the other hand, inched up to 3.1 percent in June from 3.0 percent in May, reaching the highest level since hitting 3.2 percent in November 2023.
Report on retail sales, industrial production, housing starts and existing home sales may attract attention next week, although trading activity may be somewhat subdued due to the Juneteenth holiday on Wednesday.
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