treasury bonds were almost flat on thursday as markets looked ahead to the release of key data from the housing sector which could provide further insights into the state of the us economy the benchmark 10year treasury yield was up by less than a basis point to 36990 as of 0326 am et the yield on the 2year treasury was last trading at around 43612 after dipping by less than a basis point yields and prices have an inverted relationship one basis point is equivalent to 001 traders awaited the release of housing start and preliminary building permit figures for october the sector has been impacted by rising prices of materials and higher mortgage rates investors will therefore be looking to the fresh data for hints about how the us economy is faring in light of persistent inflation and high interest rates markets also continued to digest recent economic data including wednesdays retail sales figures which came in hotter than expected and reflected solid consumer spending despite rising prices concerns about the state of the us economy have spread amongst investors as many are skeptical about the pace of federal reserve interest rate hikes arguing that it could lead to a recession hopes for a slowdown of rate hikes were boosted by recent wholesale and consumer price index data which suggested that inflationary pressures are easing investors are therefore closely watching a series of fed speaker remarks taking place this week for clues about the central banks policy plans