Treasuries See Further Upside As Consumer Confidence Slumps

(RTTNews) - After an initial move to the downside, treasuries climbed firmly into positive territory over the course of the trading session on Tuesday.

Bond prices bounced off their early lows in morning trading and remained higher throughout the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 4.3 basis points to 4.173 percent.

With the decrease, the ten-year yield closed lower for the sixth straight session, falling to its lowest closing level since early this month.

Treasuries benefitted from their appeal as a safe haven amid concerns about the economic outlook after the Conference Board released a report showing its U.S. consumer confidence index slumped by more than expected in the month of April.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index plunged to 86.0 in April from an upwardly revised 93.9 in March.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to tumble to 87.5 from the 92.9 originally reported for the previous month.

Stephanie Guichard, Senior Economist, Global Indicators at The Conference Board, noted the steep drop dragged the consumer confidence index down to levels not seen since the onset of the COVID pandemic.

Meanwhile, traders seemed to shrug off the latest developments on the trade front, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick telling CNBC the Trump administration had reached its first trade deal.

Lutnick declined to name the country involved but said he expects their prime minister and parliament to give their approval "shortly."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also told reporters the U.S. is "very close" to a trade deal with India, has had "substantial talks" with Japan and has "the contours of a deal" with South Korea.

Trading on Tuesday may be impacted by reaction to a slew of U.S. economic data, including reports on private sector employment and first quarter GDP as well as the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation.