Treasuries Close Roughly Flat After Recovering From Early Weakness

(RTTNews) - Treasuries came under pressure early in the session but regained ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday.

Bond prices climbed well off their early lows before ending the day roughly flat. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 4.481 percent after reaching a high of 4.523 percent.

The initial weakness among treasuries came as traders continued to react to news that Moody's has downgraded the U.S. debt rating by a notch to Aa1 from Aaa.

Moody's said the downgrade reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, with a lack of major U.S. economic data likely keeping some traders on the sidelines.