Treasuries Close Roughly Flat After Seeing Early Weakness

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure early in the session, treasuries showed a notable recovery attempt over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.

Bond prices climbed well off their early lows, ending the day roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 3.916 percent.

Ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the early weakness among treasuries, although selling pressure waned over the course of the session.

The subsequent rebound may have reflected bargain hunting, with the ten-year yield giving back ground after reaching its highest intraday level in over three months.

In U.S. economic news, MNI Indicators released a report showing Chicago-area business activity unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in the month of February.

MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer edged down to 43.6 in February from 44.3 in January, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction. Economists had expected the Chicago business barometer to inch up to 45.0.

A separate report released by the Conference Board showed U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly decreased for the second consecutive month in February.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index slid to 102.9 in February from a downwardly revised 106.0 in January.

The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected the consumer confidence index to inch up to 108.5 from the 107.1 originally reported for the previous month.

Trading on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to the Institute for Supply Management's report on manufacturing activity in the month of February.