NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Treasury prices tumbled Tuesday after the government reported retail sales exceeded Wall Street expectations in March, another indication that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates at its next meeting.
At around 3:30 p.m., the benchmark 10-year note fell 28/32 to 97-9/32 to yield 4.34 percent, up from 4.26 late Monday, and the 30-year bond dropped 1-7/32 points to 103-9/32 with a yield of 5.14 percent, up from 5.07 percent late Monday.
The two-year note shed 6/32 to 99-2/32 to yield 1.99 percent, and the five-year note dropped 17/32 of a point to 98-27/32 to yield 3.37 percent.
Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The Commerce Department said retail sales rose 1.8 percent to $333 billion last month, compared with an upwardly revised 1 percent gain in February. Excluding autos -- which account for about a quarter of total sales and can fluctuate widely from month to month -- sales rose 1.7 percent.
Economists, on average, had expected total sales to rise 0.7 percent and sales excluding autos to rise 0.6 percent, according to Briefing.com.
Retail sales have remained a strong point in the recovering economy as homeowners spend cash reaped by refinancing mortgages at historically low rates.
"The market is focused on economic fundamentals and this U.S. data was strong," a senior government debt trader told Reuters.
In the currency market, the dollar gained ground against the euro and the yen as anticipation of higher rates attracted investors to the U.S. currency.
The euro bought $1.193, down from $1.197 late Monday, and the dollar purchased ¥106.76, up from ¥105.39 late Monday.
-- from staff and wire reports
|
