WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After closing roughly flat for two consecutive sessions, treasuries showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Tuesday.
Bond prices advanced early in the session and remained firmly positive throughout the day. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slid 5.1 basis points to 4.147 percent.
With the decrease on the day, the ten-year yield ended the session at its lowest closing level in almost a month.
The strength among treasuries came after the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in the month of December.
The report said retail sales came in virtually unchanged in December after climbing by 0.6 percent in November. Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.4 percent.
Excluding a slight dip in sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales were still virtually unchanged in December after increasing by 0.4 percent in November. Ex-auto sales were expected to grow by 0.3 percent.
'The December retail sales report shows that consumers paused their spending at the end of the holiday season after a strong spending spree in October and November,' said Nationwide Chief Economist Kathy Bostjancic.
She added, 'The stagnant retail sales in December provides a soft hand-off to Q1 consumer spending, but we look for a surge in tax refunds, estimated to be $50 billion higher than last year, and the still strong wealth effect will buoy consumer spending in Q1 and support solid GDP growth.'
A separate report released by the Labor Department showed import prices in the U.S. crept up in line with estimates in the month of December.
Looking ahead, trading on Wednesday is likely to be driven by reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report.
The report, which was delayed due to the brief government shutdown last week, is expected to show employment climbed by 70,000 jobs in January after rising by 50,000 jobs in December.
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