Treasuries Give Back Ground Following Recent Rally

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply higher over the past several sessions, treasuries gave back some ground during trading on Friday.

Bond prices moved mostly lower in early trading and saw further downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 5.8 basis points to 3.819 percent.

The pullback by treasuries partly reflected profit-taking following the recent surge on the heels of encouraging inflation data.

A report from the University of Michigan showing a spike in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of July may also have reduced the safe-haven appeal of bonds.

The report showed the consumer sentiment index soared to 72.6 in July from 64.4 in June. Economists had expected the index to tick up to 65.5.

With the much bigger than expected surge, the consumer sentiment index reached its highest level since hitting 72.8 in September 2021.

A separate report released by the Labor Department showed a modest decrease in import prices in the month of June.

The Labor Department said import prices dipped by 0.2 percent in June after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in May.

Economists had expected import prices to edge down by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.6 percent decrease originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said export prices slumped by 0.9 percent in June after tumbling by 1.9 percent in May. Export prices were expected to slip by 0.2 percent.

Next week's trading may be impacted by reaction to the latest batch of U.S. economic data, including reports on retail sales, industrial production, housing starts and existing home sales.