Strong Data Weigh on Treasurys
Treasury prices were lower as a slew of economic reports suggested the country's economy fared better in March than expected, bolstering investor appetite for riskier assets.</br></br>Construction of new homes rose 7% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.04 million, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, which was the highest level since June 2008. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast housing starts would rise 1.7% to a rate of 933,000. February's figures were revised sharply higher to a rate of 968,000.</br></br>"The housing market report is important, because housing remains one of the key pillars of strength for the recovery," said Millan Mulraine, director of U.S. Rate Strategy at TD Securities. "To the extent that housing continues to chug along despite the weakness around, it is encouraging."</br></br>Yields for Treasurys drifted lower from Monday late afternoon, when blasts in Boston triggered a flight to safety and drove prices higher. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down 5/32 to yield 1.717% at 3 p.m. EDT, according to Tradeweb. The 30-year-bond lost 14/32 to yield 2.901%. Bond prices move inversely to yields.</br></br>In addition, U.S. industrial output increased 0.4% last month, beating the consensus of a 0.2% gain, according to a Federal Reserve report. The better-than-expected figures were entirely due to robust utility production, thanks to the cold weather.