Treasuries Close Moderately Lower Ahead Of Fed Meeting

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved to the downside during trading on Monday as traders expressed uncertainty ahead of this week's Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

Bond prices moved lower in early trading and remained stuck in the red throughout the session. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.4 basis points to 2.585 percent.

The moderate weakness among treasuries came as traders looked ahead to some key events later this week.

Traders are particularly focused on the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting that begins on Tuesday.

The Fed is not widely expected to announce plans to taper its asset purchase program when it releases its statement on Wednesday, but traders will be looking for any signals regarding the September meeting.

Along with the Fed meeting, traders will also be keeping a close eye on the monthly jobs report as well as the initial report on second quarter GDP.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Realtors showing a modest drop in pending home sales.

NAR said its pending home sales index edged down 0.4 percent to 110.9 in June from a six-year high of 111.3 in May. Economists had been expecting the index to drop by about 1.4 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Trading activity on Tuesday is likely to remain somewhat subdued as the Fed's two-day monetary policy meeting gets underway. Nonetheless, trading could be impacted by the release of a pair of reports on home prices and consumer confidence.