2019.05.2115:18:00UTC+00Treasuries Move Slightly Lower Amid Easing Trade Concerns

Treasuries moved slightly lower during trading on Tuesday, extending the moderate move to the downside seen in the previous session.

Bond prices lingered modestly below the unchanged line throughout the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1 basis point to 2.426 percent.

The slight drop by treasuries came following news that the U.S. Commerce Department has temporarily eased trade restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei.

The Commerce Department issued a temporary license authorizing specific, limited engagement in transactions involving the export, re-export, and transfer of items to Huawei for 90 days.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the temporary reprieve grants "operators time to make other arrangements and the Department space to determine the appropriate long term measures for Americans and foreign telecommunications providers that currently rely on Huawei equipment for critical services."

"In short, this license will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks," he added.

The move by the Trump administration led U.S. tech giant Google to reverse an earlier decision and announce it will continue to work with Huawei over the next 90 days.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the National Association of Realtors showing an unexpected drop in existing home sales in the month of April.

NAR said existing home sales dipped by 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.19 million in April after plunging by 4.9 percent to a rate of 5.21 million in March.

The continued decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had expected existing home sales to jump by 2.7 percent to a rate of 5.35 million.

Trading on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which are due to be released late in the trading day.