Treasuries Rally In Reaction To New Covid-19 Variant

(RTTNews) - After turning higher over the course of the previous session, treasuries showed another significant move to the upside during trading on Friday.

Bond prices jumped at the state of trading and continued to trend higher as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 16.8 basis points at 1.477 percent.

The spike by treasuries came as traders looked to the relatively safe haven of bonds amid reports a new and possibly vaccine-resistant coronavirus variant has been detected in South Africa.

The news, which comes amid a surge in new Covid-19 cases in Europe, raised concerns the pandemic could continue to wreak havoc on the global economy.

The U.K. has issued a temporary ban on flights from six African countries in reaction to the new variant, which has also been detected in Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong.

The World Health Organization will hold a "special meeting" to discuss if the heavily mutated strain will become a variant of interest or a variant of concern.

Light volume may have exacerbated the rally by treasuries, as some traders remained away from their desks ahead of an early close by the markets.

A lack of major U.S. economic data may also have kept traders on the sidelines ahead of next week's closely watched monthly jobs report.

Looking ahead, next week's trading may be impacted by reaction to additional news about the new Covid variant as well as the closely watched monthly jobs report.