By Deborah Levine
Treasurys were little changed Friday as evidence of poor retail sales was the focus amid thin post-holiday trading.
Ten-year note yields (UST10Y) traded at 2.14%.
Two-year notes (UST2YR) yielded 0.87%.
Five-year note yields (UST5YR) fell 1 basis point, or 0.01%, to 1.50%. Yields move in the opposite direction as prices.
"As the New Year approaches, we'll continue to expect choppiness and little else," said strategists at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets.
MasterCard Inc.'s SpendingPulse unit showed total retail sales, excluding automobiles, fell over the year-earlier period by 5.5% in November and 8% in December through Christmas Eve, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
"Our first glimpse at retail sales for this holiday season are unnerving, to say the least," RBS strategists said.
A deteriorating economic outlook and a spreading contagion in financial markets that triggered a massive flight to safety among investors have led Treasurys of all maturities to return 14.3% this year, according to an index compiled by Merrill Lynch.
Bond markets were closed Thursday and trading ended early on Wednesday.
Weekly loss
Yields are set to end the week higher, for the first time since October as data reports earlier in the week came in better than many economists had expected.
A private measure of consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved in December.
The pace of new home sales in November slowed less than predicted and durable-goods orders and consumer spending declined less than seen.
Yields may also be less attractive after falling to the lowest on record last week.
Ten-year yields fell to 2.03% on Dec. 18. Two-year note yields fell as low as 0.62% on Dec. 16, also the lowest ever.
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Publié le 26 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones