Treasuries Move To The Upside Ahead Of ECB Announcement

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved to the upside during trading on Wednesday after closing nearly flat in the two previous sessions.

Bond prices climbed into positive territory in morning trading before moving roughly sideways thereafter. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.9 basis points to 2.347 percent.

The strength among treasuries came as traders looked ahead to the European Central Bank's monetary policy announcement on Thursday.

The ECB is expected to extend its asset purchase program beyond March of 2017 amid the recent political turmoil in Europe following the referendum in Italy.

Next week's Federal Reserve meeting also remains in focus for bond traders, with the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by a quarter point.

Trading on Thursday is likely to be driven to reaction to the ECB announcement along with the subsequent press conference by ECB President Mario Draghi.

The news out of Europe will likely overshadow the release of the Labor Department's report on weekly jobless claims.