NEW YORK: US Treasuries prices slipped on Friday, on the defensive amid global equity market strength as some upbeat economic data encouraged investors to lighten up on safe-haven assets.
Stocks opened higher on Wall Street after the S&P 500 finished above 1,400 for the first time since 2008. Overnight, European stocks neared a 7-1/2-month high.
In contrast, the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down 20/32, its yield rising to 2.35 percent from 2.28 percent late on Thursday.
Treasuries have endured their worst sell-off in four months this week as expectations for stronger growth in the US economy and reassuring stress test results for a majority of domestic banks encouraged investors to dump low-yielding government bonds.
On Thursday the government reported another drop in new US jobless claims. Data released on Friday showed a smaller-than-forecast 0.1 percent rise in consumer prices excluding food and energy items and a 0.4 percent rise with those items included. Federal Reserve data said industrial output was flat in February, but January's growth was revised up to 0.4 percent.
Traders said global risk aversion has diminished across the Atlantic as well due to the two long-term refinancing operations by the European Central Bank. The loans greatly alleviated stress in the European banking system.
In line with the move away from safety, German government bond futures, seen as one of the safest European investment bets, fell 1.10 ticks while the yield on 10-year bunds rose to 2.057 percent.
The rally in global stocks and the sell-off in rates suggest to some that the recovery may finally be on its way, said Barclays Capital in a research note.
"But a deeper look into global market indicators hints that the market is still going through a relief rally more than chasing a new trend on global growth" and that equities are getting into profit-taking territory, they said.
"Equities are cheap relative to bonds for good reason: bonds are expensive due to unconventional monetary policy," Barclays said.
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