Treasuries Extend Rebound Seen In Previous Session

(RTTNews) - Extending the rebound seen in the previous session, treasuries showed a notable move to the upside during trading on Friday.

Bond prices climbed into positive territory in morning trading before moving roughly sideways in the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3.3 basis points to 2.957 percent.

With the continued decrease, the ten-year yield pulled back further after close above the key 3 percent level for the first time in well over four years on Wednesday.

The continued rebound by treasuries came following the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing a slowdown in the pace of U.S. economic growth in the first quarter.

The report said GDP growth slowed to 2.3 percent in the first quarter from 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter, although the increase still exceeded economist estimates for 2.0 percent growth.

The slowdown in GDP growth came as consumer spending rose by just 1.1 percent in the first quarter compared to the 4.0 percent jump seen in the fourth quarter.

Traders seemed to shrug off data showing the annual rate of core consumer price growth surged up to 2.5 percent in the first quarter from 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

A separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the deteriorated by less than initially estimated in the month of April.

The report said the consumer sentiment index for April was upwardly revised to 98.8 from the preliminary reading of 97.8.

The upwardly revised reading exceeded economist estimates of 98.0 but still came in below the final March reading of 101.4.

Looking ahead, next week's trading may be impacted by a number of different factors, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement next Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on the latest economic data, including the Labor Department's closely watched economic report due next Friday.

Reaction to reports on personal income and spending, manufacturing and service sector activity, and international trade may also impact next week's trading.

If that were not enough for traders to digest, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are due to travel to Beijing next week to hold trade talks with Chinese officials.