Treasuries Move To The Downside After Early Volatility

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction in morning trading, treasuries moved to the downside over the course of the trading day on Friday.

Bond prices slid more firmly into negative territory in late morning trading and remained in the red for the rest of the day. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.4 basis points to 4.317 percent.

The choppy trading seen earlier in the day came after the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of March.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index jumped by 0.9 percent in March after rising by 0.3 percent in February. Economists had expected consumer prices to advance by 0.9 percent.

The report also said the annual rate of growth by consumer prices accelerated to 3.3 percent in March from 2.4 in February, which also matched expectations.

The notable monthly increase in consumer prices largely reflected a spike in energy prices, which soared by 10.9 percent amid the war in the Middle East. Gasoline prices skyrocketed by 21.2 percent.

Excluding food and energy prices, core consumer prices rose by 0.2 in March, matching the uptick seen in February. Core prices were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

The annual rate of growth by core consumer prices ticked up to 2.6 percent in March from 2.5 percent in February, coming in slightly below the 2.7 percent economists had expected.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by the University of Michigan showed a significant deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of April.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index plunged to 47.6 in April after falling to 53.3 in March. Economists had expected the index to dip to 52.0.

With the much steeper than expected drop, the consumer sentiment index tumbled to its lowest level on record.

On the inflation front, the University of Michigan said year-ahead inflation expectations surged to 4.8 percent in April from 3.8 percent in March, reflecting the largest one-month increase since April 2025.

Long-run inflation expectations also ticked up to 3.4 percent in April from 3.2 percent in March, reaching the highest reading since November 2025.