2018.05.1115:19:00UTC+00Treasuries Finish Choppy Trading Day Roughly Flat

Treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday before ending the day roughly flat.

Bond prices spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, ended the day flat at 2.971 percent.

The choppy trading on the day came as stocks on Wall Street also turned in a lackluster performance after moving sharply higher over the two previous sessions.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing import prices increased by less than expected in the month of April.

The Labor Department said import prices rose by 0.3 percent in April after edging down by a revised 0.2 percent in March.

Economists had expected import prices to climb by 0.5 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said export prices increased by 0.6 percent in April after rising by 0.3 percent in March. Export prices had been expected to rise by another 0.3 percent.

A separate report released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment unexpected held steady in early May.

The report said the preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for May came in at 98.8, unchanged from the final April reading. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 98.5.

Economic data is likely to attract attention next week, with traders likely to keep an eye on reports on retail sales, homebuilder confidence, housing starts and industrial production.