Treasuries Close Modestly Higher After Seeing Early Weakness

(RTTNews) - After moving to the downside in morning trading, treasuries turned higher over the course of the trading session on Tuesday.

Bond prices climbed well off their early lows to end the session modestly higher. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by 1.2 basis points to 2.261 percent.

With the modest drop on the day, the ten-year yield pulled back further off the three-month closing high set last Monday.

The modestly higher close by treasuries came as traders expressed concerns about the outlook for the global economy after the terrorist attack in Paris.

Traders were also digesting some key U.S. economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing an uptick in consumer prices in October.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.2 percent in October after falling by 0.2 percent in September. The modest increase matched economist estimates.

Excluding food and energy prices, the core consumer price index still rose by 0.2 percent, matching the increase seen in the previous month as well as expectations.

A separate report from the Federal Reserve showed that industrial production unexpectedly decreased in the month of October, reflecting steep drops in mining and utilities output

The report said industrial production dipped by 0.2 percent in October, matching the decrease seen in September. The drop surprised economists, who had expected production to inch up by 0.1 percent.

Additionally, the National Association of Home Builders released a report showing that homebuilder confidence has unexpectedly deteriorated in November.

The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index fell to 62 in November from an upwardly revised 65 in October.

Economists had expected the index to come in unchanged compared to the 64 originally reported for the previous month.

Trading on Wednesday may be impacted by the Commerce Department's report on housing starts in October as well as the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.