Treasuries Close Modestly Lower After Seeing Initial Strength

(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside early in the session, treasuries gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Monday.

Bond prices pulled back well off their early highs and into negative territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged up 1.9 basis points to 3.983 percent after hitting a low of 3.897 percent.

Treasuries initially benefited from optimism that the Federal Reserve is close to finishing its aggressive interest rate hikes.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Powell is due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

The Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report is also likely to attract attention later in the week.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 200,000 jobs in February after jumping by 517,000 jobs in January, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.4 percent.

Powell's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee is likely to be in the spotlight on Tuesday, overshadowing separate reports on wholesale inventories and consumer credit.