Trump's Tariff Threats Contribute To Extended Rebound By Treasuries

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved to the upside during trading on Friday, extending the rebound seen over the course of the previous session.

Bond prices gave back some ground 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 4.4 basis points to 4.509 percent.

The ten-year yield added to the 4.3 basis point decrease seen on Thursday, pulling back further off the three-month closing high set on Wednesday.

Treasuries benefitted from their appeal as a safe haven after President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union beginning June 1st.

Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that the EU has "been very difficult to deal with" and said trade talks with the bloc are "going nowhere!"

In a separate Truth Social, Trump also threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on Apple (AAPL) iPhones that are not manufactured in the U.S. Shares of Apple have tumbled by 2.2 percent following the news.

Trump's threats have led to renewed to trade concerns, which had waned considerably in recent weeks after the U.S. reached trade deals with the U.K. and China.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales in the U.S. in the month of April spiked compared to a significantly downwardly revised level in March.

The report said new home sales soared by 10.9 percent to an annual rate of 743,000 in April after jumping by 2.6 percent to a downwardly revised rate of 670,000 in March.

Economists had expected new home sales to tumble by 4.4 percent to a rate of 692,000 from the 724,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Following the long Memorial Day weekend, the Federal Reserve's preferred readings on consumer price inflation are likely to attract attention along with reports on durable goods orders, consumer confidence and pending home sales.