BLBG: Treasurys absorb demand on retail sales, Cyprus concerns
By Ben Eisen, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasurys bolstered early morning gains Friday after U.S. retail sales in March posted the biggest decline in nine months.
The unexpected burst of disappointing data helped increase demand for the safety of the Treasury market, with the benchmark 10-year 10_YEAR -2.45% yield, which moves inversely to prices, falling 5 basis points point on the day to 1.74%. A basis point is one-hundredth of 1%.
The 30-year 30_YEAR -1.74% bond also rallied, with yields falling nearly 6 basis points to 2.94%. The 5-year 5_YEAR -3.43% note fell almost 3 basis points to just below 0.70%.
“This was much weaker than the market consensus expectations for a flat print, and the drop in sales activity marks the weakest performance in this key segment of the economy since June last year,” said Millan Mulraine, director of U.S. rates strategy at TD Securities, in a note.
kicked off the rally before U.S. data hit the market amid reports that the nation’s cash-strapped finance ministry was seeking a larger bailout from the European Union. Cyprus officials later denied those reports, but yields still fell more than 3 basis points on the 10-year Treasury note.
Ben Eisen is a MarketWatch reporter based in New York.
