Treasuries Close Modestly Higher Following Mixed Data

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, treasuries moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday.

Bond prices climbed into positive territory as the day progressed before moving roughly sideways going into the close. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by 1.6 basis points to 2.827 percent.

With the modest decrease on the day, the ten-year yield matched the one-month closing low that it set on Monday.

The modest strength among treasuries came on the heels of the release of a mixed batch of U.S. economic data, including reports showing a pullback in housing starts and an increase in industrial production that came roughly in line with economist estimates.

The Commerce Department said housing starts fell 9.8 percent to an annual rate of 999,000 in December after jumping 23.1 percent to the revised November estimate of 1.107 million.

Economists had expected housing starts to drop to an annual rate of 985,000 from the 1.091 million originally reported for the previous month, reflecting a 9.7 percent decrease.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve said industrial production increased by 0.3 percent in December after jumping by a revised 1.0 percent in November.

The December increase matched economist estimates, while the previous month's growth was downwardly revised from 1.1 percent.

Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan released a separate report showing an unexpected drop in consumer sentiment in the month of January.

Following the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday on Monday, next week's trading may be somewhat subdued amid a lack of major U.S. economic data. The release of reports on weekly jobless claims and existing home sales may attract some attention next Thursday.