Treasuries Pull Back Off Early Highs But Remain Positive

Treasuries moved to the upside during trading on Wednesday, regaining some ground after moving notably lower over the two previous sessions.

Bond prices pulled back off their best levels after an early advance but remained in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 3 basis points to 1.457 percent.

The rebound by treasuries may partly have reflected lingering concerns about the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and the potential for new restrictions on movement.

However, treasures gave back some ground following the release of some upbeat U.S. economic data, including a report from the Conference Board showing consumer confidence improved by much more than expected in the month of December.

The report showed the consumer confidence index climbed to 115.8 in December from an upwardly revised 111.9 in November.

Economists had been expecting the consumer confidence index to inch up to 110.7 from the 109.5 originally reported for the previous month.

Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board, noted concerns about both inflation and Covid-10 declined despite reports of continued price increases and the emergence of the Omicron variant.

The National Association of Realtors also released a report showing existing home sales climbed to a ten-month high in November.

NAR said existing home sales jumped 1.9 percent to an annual rate of 6.46 million in November after climbing by 0.8 percent to a rate of 6.34 million in October.

A slew of U.S. economic data is scheduled to be released on Thursday, including reports on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders, personal income and spending, and new home sales.

Traders will be looking to get a head start on the Christmas weekend but are still likely to keep an eye on the data for clues about the economic outlook.

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