Treasuries Move Sharply Higher Following Recent Weakness

(RTTNews) - Treasuries showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Thursday, regaining ground after trending lower over the past several sessions.

Bond prices moved sharply higher in morning trading before moving roughly sideways throughout the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slumped 7.3 basis points to 4.455 percent.

With the steep drop on the day, the ten-year yield gave back ground after ending Wednesday's trading at a nearly three-month closing high.

The pullback by treasuries came following an avalanche of U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing producer prices unexpectedly decreased in the month of April.

The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand fell by 0.5 percent in April following a revised unchanged reading in March.

Economists had expected producer prices to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.4 percent decline originally reported for the previous month.

Another report released by the Commerce Department showed a slight increase by U.S. retail sales in the month of April.

The Commerce Department said retail sales crept up by 0.1 percent in April after surging by an upwardly revised 1.7 percent in March.

Economists had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.1 percent compared to the 1.4 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.

Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales still edged up by 0.1 percent in April after climbing by 0.8 percent in March. Ex-auto sales were expected to rise by 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve released a report on showing industrial production in the U.S. came in unchanged in the month of April.

The Fed said industrial production was unchanged in April after falling by 0.3 percent in March. Economists had expected industrial production to rise by 0.2 percent.

While utilities output surged by 3.3 percent in April after plunging by 6.2 percent in March, manufacturing and mining output fell by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.