FX.co ★ Treasuries Close Roughly Flat Ahead Of Next Week's Fed Meeting

Following a period of notable sell-off, the performance of the treasuries appeared somewhat uneventful in Friday’s trading. After an initial decline, bond prices recovered and spent the majority of the day close to the unchanged line. Thus, the yield on the ten-year note crept up slightly to 4.304 percent.

This marked the fifth consecutive session where the ten-year yield closed higher, recuperating substantially from the last Friday's monthly low. As traders hesitated to take significant moves before the Federal Reserve's forthcoming monetary policy meeting, trading for the day remained choppy.

Although it is strongly anticipated that the Federal Reserve will maintain the current interest rates, traders are keenly waiting for the accompanying statement for any indications of future rate adjustments. High inflation readings than initially expected have dampened hopes of the Federal Reserve making its first rate cut in June. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the possibility of the Federal Reserve keeping rates unaltered in June has risen from 25 percent to 40.7 percent.

In terms of the American economic situation, a report released by the Labor Department revealed that February's import prices increased, meeting economist predictions. After a 0.8 percent rise in January, import prices surged by 0.3 percent in February. Similarly, export prices saw a 0.8 percent advance in February following a revised increase of 0.9 percent in January, surpassing economists' expectation of a 0.2 percent increase.

The Federal Reserve shared a report indicating a slight improvement in U.S. industrial production in February, with manufacturing and mining outputs bouncing back from January's weather-related declines. Predictions of unchanged industrial production were contradicted when the Federal Reserve announced its rise by 0.1 percent in February after a 0.5 percent drop in January.

In contrast, preliminary data from the University of Michigan pointed at a slight dip in U.S. consumer sentiment in March. The consumer sentiment index fell to 76.5 in March from 76.9 in February, despite predictions for it to remain stable. The inflation expectations for the next year and long term retained last month's figures at 3.0 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shared a report stating a significant increase in the contraction rate of New York's manufacturing activity in March. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting will be the key focus in the coming week, drawing more attention than reports on homebuilder confidence, housing starts, and existing home sales.