U.S. Treasuries flat ahead of December retail sales, January Philly Fed index

The U.S. Treasuries remained flat during Thursday’s afternoon session ahead of the country’s retail sales for the month of December, scheduled to be released today by 13:30GMT and FOMC member Bowman’s speech, also due today by 15:00GMT.

In addition, the Philly Fed manufacturing index for January, lined up for release today by 13:30GMT shall provide further direction to the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield remained flat at 1.788 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yield hovered around 2.245 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year also steadied at 1.562 percent by 12:00GMT.

Financial markets responded to yesterday’s signing ceremony of the first-phase US-China trade deal, which locks in a high-tariff environment for trade between the two countries, with an effective shrug, Daiwa Capital Markets.

"Today’s US retail sales report for December is expected to show a pickup in activity after disappointingly slow growth in November. Reports from the high street suggest that Black Friday sales and spending through the Christmas period was strong," Lloyds Bank commented in its latest report.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures remained tad -0.16 percent lower at 3,284.62 by 12:10GMT.