2018.09.2715:22:00UTC+00Treasuries Close Roughly Flat Following Choppy Trading Day

After moving notably higher over the course of the previous session, treasuries showed a lack of direction during trading on Thursday.

Bond prices spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 3.056 percent.

The choppy trading day came as traders continued to digest the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, as the Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points and hinted at another rate hike this year and three more in 2019.

Traders were also reacting to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing a much bigger than expected jump in durable goods orders in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged up by 4.5 percent in August after falling by a revised 1.2 percent in July.

Economists had expected durable goods orders to climb by 2.0 percent compared to the 1.7 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding a spike in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders inched up by just 0.1 percent in August after rising by 0.2 percent in July. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to increase by 0.5 percent.

A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter was unrevised from the previous estimate.

The report said gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter, unchanged from the estimate released last month. The unrevised growth also matched economist estimates.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest rebound in initial jobless claims in the week ended September 22nd.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 214,000, an increase of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 202,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 210,000.

The slightly bigger than expected increase came after jobless claims hit their lowest level since December of 1969 in the previous week.

The National Association of Realtors also released a report showing pending home sales dropped by much more than expected in the month of August.

NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 1.8 percent to 104.2 in August after falling to 106.1 in July. Economists had expected pending home sales to fall by 0.4 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to reports on personal income and spending, Chicago-area business activity and consumer sentiment.