Treasuries Close Roughly Flat After Recovering From Initial Drop

(RTTNews) - After recovering from an initial move to the downside, treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Friday before closing roughly flat.

Bond prices spent most of the session lingering near the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.900 percent.

The choppy trading on the day came as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front.

Traders largely shrugged off lingering trade concerns even as President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 20 percent tariff on all cars imported to the U.S. from the European Union.

Trump claimed in a post on Twitter that he would impose the new tariffs unless the EU removes tariffs and trade barriers placed on the U.S.

"Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!" Trump tweeted.

The latest tweet from Trump came after he threatened to escalate the ongoing trade dispute with China earlier this week.

Treasuries also did not show much reaction to the news out of the closely watched OPEC meeting in Vienna, Austria.

Reports earlier in the day indicated OPEC planned to increase oil production by about 1 million barrels per day, although a statement from the cartel did not provide a specific figure.

OPEC only noted that it was overshooting the output reduction target put in place in November of 2016 and said it will "strive to adhere to the overall conformity level of OPEC-12, down to 100%."

The uncertainty generated by the statement contributed to a sharp increase by the price of crude oil, with crude for August delivery spiking $3.04 to $68.58 a barrel.

Next week's trading may be impacted by reaction to the latest batch of economic news, including reports on new home sales, consumer confidence, durable goods orders, and personal income and spending.

Bond traders are also likely to keep an eye on the results of the Treasury Department's auction of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes.

The Treasury is due to sell $34 billion worth of two-year notes next Tuesday, $36 billion worth of five-year notes next Wednesday and $30 billion worth of seven-year notes next Thursday.