Treasury Yield Drops to 10-Month Low at the End of Volatile Week

(Bloomberg) -- A late session slide in U.S. stocks led Treasuries to extend their rally in Friday afternoon trading in New York, dragging the the benchmark 10-year yield to a level unseen since February.

The rate fell as much as 6 basis points to 2.71 percent as the S&P 500 Index erased earlier gains and tumbled back into the red. While activity in U.S. stock index futures was elevated during the afternoon equity sell-off, volumes across Treasury futures contracts were subdued on the second-last trading day of 2018. The 5-year to 30-year yield curve steepened sharply.

The moves caps a tumultuous holiday-shortened week in financial markets, which have been whipsawed amid an ongoing U.S. government shutdown and political turmoil. With trading thin, the 10-year rate has gained or lost more than five basis points every trading day this week on an intraday basis, although it has held within a range of 2.71 percent to 2.82 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story: Edward Bolingbroke in New York at ebolingbrok1@bloomberg.net;Benjamin Purvis in New York at bpurvis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net, Alexandra Harris

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