Treasuries Close Nearly Flat After Seeing Early Strength

(RTTNews) - After failing to sustain an early upward move, treasuries pulled back near the unchanged line and closed roughly flat.

Bond prices moved roughly sideways in afternoon trading, holding near the unchanged line. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 2.273 percent.

The early strength among treasuries was partly due to renewed concerns about an Ebola outbreak in the U.S. amid news that a patient at a New York City hospital tested positive for the deadly disease.

The patient, identified as Craig Spencer, is a doctor who recently returned to the country after treating Ebola patients in West Africa.

Buying interest waned over the course of morning trading, however, with uncertainty ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting leading to the subsequent pullback by treasuries.

Meanwhile, traders largely seemed to shrug off a Commerce Department report showing that U.S. new home sales ticked higher in September but from a significantly downwardly revised level in August.

The report said new home sales inched up 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 467,000 in September from the revised August rate of 466,000.

Economists had been expecting new home sales to drop to a rate of 460,000 from the 504,000 originally reported for the previous month.

The Fed's monetary policy meeting is likely to be in focus next week, with the central bank widely expected to wrap up its asset purchase program.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on durable goods orders, third quarter GDP and personal income and spending.