Treasuries Close Roughly Flat Following Choppy Trading Day

(RTTNews) - Treasuries showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading day on Monday before ending the session roughly flat.

After recovering from an early move to the downside, bond prices lingered near the unchanged line for the remainder of the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.678 percent.

The choppy trading came as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves amid a lack of any of major U.S. economic data.

Traders were also looking ahead to remarks from new Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who is scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday in her first public comments since taking over as head of the central bank.

Yellen's remarks are likely to be closely scrutinized for any indications regarding the outlook for the Fed's tapering of its asset purchase program.

Later in the week, trading could be impacted by a separate appearance from Yellen before the Senate Banking Committee along with reports on retail sales, industrial production, and consumer sentiment.

Tuesday's trading is likely to be driven by reaction to Yellen's testimony, which is likely to overshadow a report on wholesale inventories.