Treasuries Close Roughly Flat For Second Straight Day

(RTTNews) - Treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday before closing roughly flat for the second straight day.

Bond prices spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.202 percent.

The choppy trading came as traders largely shrugged off some disappointing economic reports, as the data was impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

The Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales dipped by 0.2 percent in August after rising by a downwardly revised 0.3 percent in July.

Economists had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected decrease in retail sales largely reflected a sharp drop in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, which plunged by 1.6 percent in August after coming in unchanged in July.

Excluding the slump in auto sales, retail sales rose by 0.2 percent in August after climbing by 0.4 percent in July. Ex-auto sales had been expected to increase by 0.5 percent.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve unexpectedly showed a notable decrease in industrial production in August.

The report said industrial production slumped by 0.9 percent in August after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in July. Economists had expected production to inch up by 0.1 percent.

The Fed said Hurricane Harvey is estimated to have reduced the rate of change in total output by roughly three-quarters of a percentage point.

Additionally, a report from the University of Michigan showed concerns about the impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have weighed on consumer sentiment in September.

Traders may have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement next Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues on the outlook for monetary policy.

House data may also attract attention next week, as reports on homebuilder confidence, housing starts, and existing home sales are all due to be released.