Treasuries Close Nearly Flat For Third Straight Day

(RTTNews) - Treasuries continued to show a lack of direction during trading on Friday before closing roughly flat for the third consecutive session.

Bond prices once again spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 1.740 percent.

The continued choppy trading by treasuries came as traders remained reluctant to make any significant moves amid a lack of major U.S. economic data on the day.

Traders largely shrugged off remarks by San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams, who renewed his call for gradual rate hikes sooner rather than later.

Next week's economic calendar is relatively light, but traders are likely to keep an eye on reports on consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods orders, and third quarter GDP.

Bond trading may also be impacted by reaction to the results of the Treasury Department's auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes.

The Treasury said it plans to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Tuesday, $34 billion worth of five-year notes next Wednesday and $28 billion worth of seven-year notes next Thursday.