Treasuries Close Nearly Flat Following Choppy Trading Day

(RTTNews) - Treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Thursday before ending the day roughly flat.

Bond prices spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.553 percent.

The choppy trading came as traders digested a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing a sharp pullback in durable goods orders in the month of November.

The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 4.6 percent in November after surging up by 4.8 percent in October. Economists had expected orders to slump by about 4.4 percent.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.5 percent in November after climbing by 0.9 percent in October. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.2 percent.

The Commerce Department also said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of business spending, climbed by 0.9 percent in November after edging up by 0.2 percent in October.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that economic activity increased by more than previously estimated in the third quarter.

The Commerce Department said gross domestic product climbed by 3.5 percent in the third quarter, reflecting an upward revision from the previously reported 3.2 percent increase.

Economists had been expecting the report to show a more modest upward revision to the pace of GDP growth to 3.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department also released a report showing that initial jobless claims rose by much more than expected in the week ended December 17th.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 275,000, an increase of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 256,000.

With the much bigger than expected increase, jobless claims rose to their highest level since reaching 277,000 in the week ended June 11th.

Another report from the Commerce Department showed that personal income inched up by less than a tenth of a percent in November after climbing by a revised 0.5 percent in October.

Economists had expected income to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.6 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

At the same time, the report said personal spending rose by 0.2 percent in November after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in the previous month.

Spending had been expected to increase by 0.3 percent, which would have matched the growth originally reported for October.

The Treasury Department also announced the details of next week's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes.

The Treasury said its plans to auction $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Tuesday, $34 billion worth of five-year notes next Wednesday, and $28 billion worth of seven-year notes next Thursday.

Following the slew of data released this morning, trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to reports on new home sales and consumer sentiment.

Nonetheless, trading activity on the day is likely to be relatively subdued as traders look to get a head start on the holiday weekend.