Treasuries Close Roughly Flat As Early Buying Interest Fades

(RTTNews) - After an early move to the upside, treasuries gave back ground over the course of the trading session on Wednesday.

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 3.684 percent after hitting a low of 3.621 percent.

Treasuries initially benefited from bargain hunting following the notable downward move seen over the three previous sessions.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as stocks on Wall Street showed a significant move to the upside.

A report from the Conference Board showing a significant improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of December also reduced the safe haven appeal of bonds.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index spiked to 108.3 in December from an upwardly revised 101.4 in November. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 101.0 from the 100.2 originally reported for the previous month.

With the much bigger than expected surge, the consumer confidence index reached its highest level since April 2022.

Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at the Conference Board, also noted inflation expectations retreated to the lowest level since September 2021, reflecting recent declines in gas prices.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors released a separate report showing a continued slump in U.S. existing home sales in the month of November.

NAR said existing home sales dove by 7.7 percent to an annual rate of 4.09 million in November after plunging by 5.9 percent to a rate of 4.43 million in October. Economists had expected existing home sales to tumble by 5.2 percent to a rate of 4.20 million.

Existing home sales decreased for the tenth consecutive month and are down by 35.4 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

A report on weekly jobless claims may attract attention on Thursday, although trading activity may be somewhat subdued ahead of more closely watched data due on Friday.