Treasuries Close Moderately Lower After Seeing Early Strength

(RTTNews) - After seeing initial strength, treasuries turned lower over the course of the trading day on Monday, extending a recent downward trend.

Bond prices pulled back well off their early highs, finishing the session moderately lower. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 1.8 basis points to 2.135 percent.

With the increase on the day, the ten-year yield closed higher for the sixth consecutive session, reaching its highest closing level in almost two months.

The downturn by treasuries came following the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing a notable increase in factory orders in the month of March.

The Commerce Department said factory orders surged up by 2.1 percent in March following a revised 0.1 percent decrease in February. Economists had expected orders to increase by about 2.0 percent.

However, the increase was largely due to a rebound in orders for transportation equipment, which soared by 13.5 percent in March after dropping by 1.4 percent in the previous month.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, the Commerce Department said factory orders were unchanged in March compared to a 0.1 percent increase in February.

Nonetheless, overall trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the release of more closely watched economic data later in the week.

Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to the release of reports on international trade and service sector activity.