After coming under pressure in early trading on Thursday, treasuries recovered over the course of the session before closing roughly flat.
Bond prices spent much of the afternoon lingering near the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, ended the day up by less than a basis point at 2.352 percent.
The early weakness among treasuries was partly due to news that the Greek parliament voted to approve the tough austerity measures needed to secure a fresh bailout.
Greek lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to approve the agreement, eliminating some of the lingering uncertainty about the outlook for the debt-laden country.
Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as analysts noted that the deal has additional hurdles to clear before a final resolution.
Traders were also presented with several key U.S. economic reports, including a Labor Department report showing that initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected in the week ended July 11th.
The report said initial jobless claims fell to 281,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 296,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 285,000.
The National Association of Home Builders also released a report showing homebuilder confidence at a nearly ten-year high in July.
The report said the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index came in at 60 in July, unchanged from the upwardly revised reading for June.
Economists had expected the index to come in at 59, which would have been unchanged from the reading originally reported for the previous month.
The NAHB said the housing market index is now at its highest level since reaching a reading of 61 in November of 2005.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve also released a report showing that its index of regional manufacturing activity fell by more than expected in July.
The Philly Fed said its broadest measure of manufacturing conditions, the diffusion index of current activity, tumbled to 5.7 in July from 15.2 in June.
While a positive reading indicates a continued increase in regional manufacturing activity, the index had been expected to show a much more modest decrease to 12.0.
Another batch of U.S. economic data is due to be released on Friday, with traders likely to keep an eye on reports on consumer prices, housing starts, and consumer sentiment.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com