Treasuries Close Slightly Higher But Well Off Best Levels

(RTTNews) - After seeing early strength, treasuries gave back ground over the course of the trading on Friday before ending the day only slightly higher.

Bond prices pulled back well off their early highs but still managed to end the day in positive territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped by less than a basis point to 1.951 percent.

The early strength among treasuries was partly due to bargain hunting following Thursday's sharp drop, although buying interest remained relatively subdued.

Treasuries subsequently pulled back toward the unchanged line amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Bond traders were continuing to digest the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which showed that some officials are calling for a rate hike as soon as June even as others have suggested waiting until next year.

On the economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a pullback in U.S. import prices in the month of March.

The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.3 percent in March after edging up by a revised 0.2 percent in February. The pullback in prices matched economist estimates.

Meanwhile, the report also said export prices inched up by 0.1 percent in March following a revised 0.2 percent drop in the previous month. Economists had expected export prices to slip by 0.2 percent.

While the economic calendar for the past week was relatively light, economic data is likely to move back into the spotlight next week.

Traders are likely to keep a close eye on reports on retail sales, industrial production, housing starts, and producer and consumer price inflation.