NEW YORK: US Treasury yields ended little changed after hitting four-week highs on Monday, as stocks posted a small bounce and investors who bought government debt during the uncertainty of last week's attempted coup in Turkey trimmed their holdings.
Yields, which move inversely to prices, had touched record lows on both the US 10-year note and 30-year bonds during the last few weeks, driven by an uncertain global growth outlook and geopolitical events that rocked financial markets
Turkey's coup attempt, which has been followed by a government purge of the army and police, came after killings in Nice, France last week, as well as Britain's shock vote to exit the European Union in late June.
"Geopolitical risks have kept investors sidelined, waiting and monitoring global events," said Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed income at Action Economics in San Francisco.
"It's hard to imagine getting enough demand for Treasuries given that yields on the 10-year and 30-year have both hit record lows," she added.
Still, analysts said on Monday that the outlook on yields remained tilted to the downside. They noted long-dated US Treasuries offer a higher return for investors compared to the negative yields on Japanese and German debt.
In late trading, the yield on benchmark 10-year notes was 1.581 percent, down slightly from yields late on Friday at 1.594 percent. Earlier in the session, US 10-year yields touched a high of 1.604 percent, their loftiest level since June 24, a day after the Brexit vote.
The US 30-year bond was yielding 2.294 percent, down from 2.302 percent late Friday. Yields earlier in the day hit a three-week high of 2.323 percent.
US two-year notes yielded 0.689 percent, slightly down from 0.706 percent on Friday.
Monday's data showed a US homebuilder sentiment index fell one point to 59 in July. The numbers were in line with expectations.
Yields, however, bounced off their lows following the data.
The US Treasury's $37-billion three-month and $32 billion six-month bill auctions, meanwhile, were fairly well-received on Monday, given a wave of geopolitical events.
There were nearly $118.3 billion in bids for the three-month bills for a 3.21 cover, up from last week's 2.98. Bids on six-month bills, on the other hand, reached $104.4 billion.
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