Treasuries Close Roughly Flat Following Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - Treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Thursday before ending the day roughly flat.

Bond prices moved to the upside in afternoon trading but pulled back going into the close. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 2.025 percent.

The lackluster performance came as traders digested news the Treasury Department has postponed the two-year note auction originally rescheduled for next Tuesday.

The Treasury said there is a risk that it would not be able to settle the two-year note on Monday, November 2, 2015 due to debt ceiling constraints.

The five-year note auction scheduled for next Wednesday and the seven-year note auction scheduled for next Thursday will proceed as scheduled.

On the U.S. economic front, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a much bigger than expected rebound in existing home sales in September.

NAR said existing home sales jumped 4.7 percent to an annual rate of 5.55 million in September from a slightly downwardly revised 5.30 million in August.

Economists had expected existing home sales to climb to a rate of 5.35 million from the 5.31 million originally reported for the previous month.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed that initial jobless claims rose by less than expected in the week ended October 17th.

Meanwhile, Friday represents a quiet day in terms of U.S. economic news, potentially leading to another choppy trading day.