Treasuries Close Notably Higher On Disappointing Data, Plane Crash

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, extending the modest upward move seen in the previous session.

After moving moderately higher in early trading, treasuries saw further upside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 6.3 basis points to 2.475 percent.

With the sizable drop on the day, the ten-year yield ended the session at its lowest closing level in well over a month.

The initial strength among treasuries was partly due to a disappointing report on new residential construction, with housing starts falling to a nine-month low.

The Commerce Department said housing starts tumbled 9.3 percent to an annual rate of 893,000 in June from the revised May estimate of 985,000.

The sharp drop came as a surprise to economists, who had expected housing starts to climb to 1.020 million from the 1.001 million originally reported for the previous month.

Treasuries saw some further upside in mid-day trading amid reports that a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane crashed in eastern Ukraine.

Media reports indicated that the plane flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 295 people on board crashed near the Ukraine-Russia border.

The reports of a crash in an area where the Ukrainian government has been fighting pro-Russian rebels have led to speculation that the plane was shot down.

Trading on Friday could be impacted by further developments regarding the plane crash as well as the release of U.S. reports on consumer sentiment and leading economic indicators.