Bond yields edged higher on Friday ahead of the release of key inflation data.
What’s happening
-
The yield on the 2-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD02Y
was 5.04%, down 0.8 basis points. Yields move in the opposite direction to prices. -
The yield on the 10-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
was 4.87%, up 2.1 basis points. -
The yield on the 30-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD30Y
was 5.02%, up 2.4 basis points.
What’s driving markets
Yields had tumbled on Thursday, despite a surprisingly strong 4.9% annualized rate of growth for the U.S. economy in the third quarter. Analysts noted that the decline in yields also came ahead of a fairly well-received auction of 7-year notes by the U.S. Treasury.
The economics calendar for Friday includes the PCE price index, the Fed’s favored inflation measure, which at the core level is expected to rise by 0.3% on a monthly basis. While the Fed next week isn’t expected to change interest rates, the focus will be on the commentary it delivers about the possibility of hiking rates further in December.
“As the Fed navigates the ending of their hiking cycle, they’re going to be paying close attention to trends in the data. With regard to inflation, they would like to see a bit more of a slowdown in the [monthly] numbers. They’ve made good progress, but there is more work to do,” said economists at Vanguard Group.
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