MW: Treasurys under pressure after yields touch lowest this year
By Deborah Levine , MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices declined on Friday, pushing yields up and giving back some of Thursday's big gains on the back of poor economic data.
Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.73, +0.02, +2.83%) rose 1 basis point to 0.72%, after closing at the lowest level since early December. Bond yields move inversely to prices and a basis point is 0.01%.
Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.21, +0.01, +0.44%) increased 2 basis points to 3.21%, after closing Thursday at the lowest level since June 9.
"We expect the Treasury market to consolidate recent gains in a sideways chop," said George Goncalves, a bond strategist at Nomura Securities.
On Thursday, Treasurys fell as a rise in first-time jobless claims and falling consumer prices called into question the ability of the economy to recover. Also, low inflation reduces the risk to bondholders that price increases will reduce the value of their fixed payments. See Thursday's bond report.
The U.S. has no major economic reports scheduled and no Federal Reserve speakers, as the policy maker's next two-day meeting begins on Tuesday.
"The market will struggle a bit today due to light economic calendar and very heavy sports calendar with soccer this morning and U.S. Open golf this afternoon," said Tom di Galoma, head of U.S. rates trading at Guggenheim Partners.
