Treasury yields lower as markets brace for retail sales data

The 10-year Treasury yield inched lower on Tuesday as investors awaited retail sales data for December amid a flurry of economic data this week.

The benchmark yield was over 1 basis point lower at 4.184%, as was the 30-year Treasury yield at 4.836%. The 2-year Treasury note yield also fell less than 1 basis point to 3.475%.

One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Retail sales for December, to be released later on Tuesday, is expected to tick up 0.4% month-on-month, according to economists polled by Reuters, compared to 0.6% in November.

Markets are also anticipating other backlog of data delayed by the partial U.S. government shutdown. Among the key releases is the January nonfarm payrolls report, now scheduled for Wednesday after being postponed from last Friday.

Attention will also turn to January consumer price data, due Friday. Forecasts point to a slight cooling in annual inflation to 2.5%, according to the same survey.

There will also be data on weekly initial jobless claims on Thursday.

Markets are also continuing to track developments in China after Bloomberg News reported that authorities have encouraged banks to scale back exposure to U.S. Treasurys due to concerns over concentration risk and volatility.