2018.10.1215:28:00UTC+00Treasuries Climb Well Off Worst Levels But Close Slightly Lower

Following the strong move to the upside seen in the previous session, treasuries gave back some ground during trading on Friday.

Bond prices recovered after seeing initial weakness but still ended the session slightly lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by nearly a basis point to 3.141 percent.

The early weakness among treasuries came as some traders moved their money out of bonds in order to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the two-day sell-off on Wall Street.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the trading session, however, as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for treasuries.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a much bigger than expected increase in U.S. import prices in the month of September.

The Labor Department said import prices climbed by 0.5 percent in September after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in August. Economists had expected import prices to rise by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the report said export prices came in unchanged in September after slipping by a revised 0.2 percent in August. Export prices had also been expected to increase by 0.2 percent.

A separate report from the University of Michigan unexpected showed a modest decrease in consumer sentiment in the month of October.

The preliminary report showed the consumer sentiment index dipped to 99.0 in October from the final September reading of 100.1. The drop surprised economists, who had expected the index to inch up to 100.4.

Reaction to reports on retail sales, industrial production, housing starts, and existing home sales may impact trading next week.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting, which may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.