Treasuries Move To The Upside Amid Continued Sell-Off On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After ending last Friday's trading roughly flat, treasuries moved notably higher over the course of the trading session on Monday.

Bond prices climbed into positive territory early in the session and saw further upside as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.3 basis points to 2.749 percent.

With the decrease on the day, the ten-year yield ended the session at its lowest closing level in well over eight months.

The strength among treasuries came amid a continued sell-off by stocks on Wall Street, with the major averages once again tumbling to their lowest levels in over a year.

Treasuries benefited from their appeal as a safe haven as traders had their first opportunity to react to the partial government shutdown that took effect at midnight last Friday.

The partial shutdown is likely to continue until after Christmas, as President Donald Trump and Democratic lawmakers remain "far apart" on the issue of funding for the president's controversial border wall.

The Senate adjourned Saturday without a deal to re-open the shut down parts of the federal government and is not expected to reconvene until Thursday, December 27th.

The ongoing shutdown comes after Vice President Mike Pence met with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., but a spokesman for the Democratic leader said, "Unfortunately, we're still very far apart."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., noted party leaders have pushed the "pause button" on holding votes until Trump and Democrats reach an agreement.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off the results of the Treasury Department's auction of $40 billion worth of two-year notes, which attracted well below average demand.

The two-year note auction drew a high yield of 2.619 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.31, while the ten previous two-year note auctions had an average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.74.

The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold.

Following the holiday on Tuesday, trading activity may remain subdued on Wednesday amid another quiet day on the U.S. economic front.

A report on home prices in major metropolitan areas may attract some attention along with the results of the Treasury's auction of $41 billion worth of five-year notes.