Treasury yields inched higher as investors continue to digest Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech last Friday and look toward key inflation data due later in the week.
The 10-year Treasury yield rose about 1 basis point to 4.269% as of 2.55 a.m. ET. The 2-year yield was over 2 basis points higher at 3.713%.
One basis point is equal to 0.01% and yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Powell on Friday offered only a cautious signal of potential interest rate cuts, stressing that high levels of uncertainty are complicating the central bank’s policy decisions.
“While a September rate cut is still not a foregone conclusion, the likelihood of a 25-bps reduction in the fed funds target rate increased in light of Powell’s speech,” said Ronald Temple, a chief market strategist at Lazard.
Delivering his closely watched remarks at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, Powell pointed to “sweeping changes” in tax, trade, and immigration policies. Those shifts, he said, mean that “the balance of risks appear to be shifting” between the Fed’s dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices.
Investors will be looking toward the release of the July’s core personal consumption expenditures later this Friday. The core PCE price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, is expected to climb 2.9% year on year from 2.8% the previous month, according to economists polled by Reuters.
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