Treasuries Close Nearly Flat Following Choppy Trading Day

(RTTNews) - After trending lower over the past few sessions, treasures showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Wednesday.

Bond prices spent the day lingering near the unchanged line before closing roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.123 percent.

The choppy trading came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

Following the meeting, the ECB is expected to provide additional details regarding its previously announced quantitative-easing program.

Traders may also be looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched U.S. jobs report on Friday.

Payroll processor ADP released a report this morning showing a notable slowdown in the pace of private sector job growth in the month of February.

ADP said private sector employment increased by 212,000 jobs in February compared to an upwardly revised jump of 250,000 jobs in January. Economists had expected an increase of about 220,000 jobs.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said, "Job growth is strong but slowing from the torrid pace of recent months."

"Job gains remain broad-based, although the collapse in oil prices has begun to weigh on energy-related employment," he added.

A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management unexpectedly showed a modest uptick by its reading on service sector activity, but the internals were mixed.

Later in the day, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book said economic activity continued to expand across most regions and sectors from early January through mid-February.

While the ECB is likely to be in focus early on Thursday, traders will also be presented with U.S. reports on weekly jobless claims, labor productivity, and factory orders.

The Treasury Department is also due to announce the details of next week's auctions of three-year and ten-year notes and thirty-year bonds.