Treasuries Close Modestly Lower Following Upbeat Retail Sales Data

(RTTNews) - After trending higher over the past several sessions, treasuries moved modestly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday.

Bond prices moved to the downside in morning trading but regained some ground going into the close. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2 basis points to 2.639 percent.

With the modest increase on the day, the ten-year yield edged higher after ending last Friday's trading at its worst closing level in over a month.

The modest pullback by treasuries came following the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing that retail sales rose by more than expected in the month of March.

The report showed that retail sales jumped by 1.1 percent in March after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in February. Economists had expected sales to increase by about 0.9 percent.

Excluding an increase in auto sales, retail sales still rose by 0.7 percent in March compared to economist estimates for an increase of 0.5 percent.

Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, consumers clearly responded to the winter thaw and the sales gains m/o/m were pretty broad based.

"The sustainability of the sales gains, as opposed to just a onetime weather rebound, will now be the focus," he added.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a separate report from the Commerce Department showing that business inventories rose by less than expected in February.

Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by the release of another batch of economic data, including reports on consumer prices, homebuilder confidence, and New York manufacturing activity.