Treasuries Give Back Ground Amid Jump In Oil Prices

(RTTNews) - After moving higher over the course of the two previous sessions, treasuries moved back to the downside during trading on Wednesday.

Bond prices moved notably lower early in the session but regained some ground as the day progressed. As a result the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 6.6 basis points to 2.368 percent.

The pullback by treasuries came amid a substantial increase by the price of crude oil, which shot up on news of OPEC's agreement to cut production.

Crude oil for January delivery spiked $4.21 to $49.44 a barrel after plummeting $1.85 to $45.23 a barrel in the previous session.

The substantial increase by the price of crude oil came as OPEC ministers revealed the cartel has agreed to reduce production by about 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels a day.

The agreement marks the first time since 2008 that OPEC has agreed to curtail production and comes as a supply glut has weighed on prices.

The weakness among treasuries also came as payroll processor ADP released a report this morning showing stronger than expected private sector job growth in November.

ADP said private sector employment jumped by 216,000 jobs in November following a downwardly revised increase of 119,000 jobs in October.

Economists had expected employment to climb by about 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 147,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that personal income rose by more than expected in October, although the report also said personal spending increased less than anticipated.

The National Association of Realtors also released a report showing a slight uptick in pending home sales in October. NAR said its pending home sales index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Late in the day, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book said the economy continued to expand across most regions from early October through mid-November.

Another batch of economic data is scheduled to be released on Thursday, with traders likely keep an eye on reports on weekly jobless claims, manufacturing activity, and construction spending.