Bonds

U.S. 10-year Treasury yield falls as investors digest retail sales figures

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield dipped Wednesday as markets absorbed better-than-expected retail sales data.

The yield on the 10-year note was 8 basis points lower at 3.716%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury was last flat at 4.374%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point equals 0.01%.

Treasurys


Retail spending rose slightly more than expected in October as consumer spending held up despite higher prices.

Advance sales for the month climbed 1.3%, just above the 1.2% Dow Jones estimate, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The number excluding autos also was a gain of 1.3%, compared to the estimate of 0.6%. The sales totals are not adjusted for inflation, which rose 0.4% for the month as measured by the consumer price index.

October's producer price index data, released on Tuesday, showed that wholesale prices rose less than expected throughout the month. Markets broadly took this as a sign that inflation is indeed easing, as suggested by last week's consumer price index figures.

Many investors are hopeful that the data will prompt the Federal Reserve to slow interest rate hikes, which the central bank has been using as a tool to fight persistently high inflation. The pace of rate hikes has raised concerns about the Fed leading the U.S. economy into a recession.

A series of Fed speakers are due to make remarks this week, which traders will be scanning for hints about policy plans.

Elsewhere, U.K. inflation climbed to 11.1%, a 41-year high, after the Bank of England hiked interest rates by 75 basis points earlier this month.

—CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed reporting