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Treasury yields rose Thursday as investors awaited a pair of appearances by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
What are yields doing?
-
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
2.868%
rose to 2.876%, up from 2.836% at 3 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. -
The 2-year Treasury yield
TMUBMUSD02Y,
2.623%
was 2.615%, up from 2.577% Wednesday afternoon, which was its highest since Jan. 28, 2019, according to Dow Jones Market Data. -
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond
TMUBMUSD30Y,
2.903%
rose to 2.912% versus 2.876% late Wednesday.
What’s driving the market?
Powell is due to deliver opening remarks at an event held by the Volcker Alliance and Penn Institute for Urban Research at 11 a.m. ET. He is then scheduled to participate in a panel discussion on the global economy that also includes European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde at an International Monetary Fund event at 1 p.m. ET.
Investors will be listening for clues to the pace and scope of the Fed’s monetary policy actions as it moves to rein in U.S. inflation running at a four-decade high. Fed officials have signaled that a half percentage point rise in the fed funds rate, rather than the usual quarter-point move, is likely when policy makers meet next month. The Fed is also widely expected to unveil a plan to begin shrinking its nearly $9 trillion balance sheet.
Read: Why inflation ‘mania’ makes the 10-year Treasury note a buy as yield tops 2.8%: B. of A.
Weekly data on U.S. jobless benefit claims are due at 8:30 a.m. ET. First-time claims for unemployment benefits are expected to fall to 182,000 in the week ended April 16 from 185,000 the previous week. The Philadelphia Fed’s regional manufacturing index for April is also due at 8:30 a.m, while leading economic indicators for March are set for 10 a.m.
What do analysts say?
Powell and Lagarde “will catch everyone’s attention when participating in the IMF seminar ‘Debate on the Global Economy.’ That said, it is hard to imagine either sending a message that would fuel any rethinking in bond markets, even if we think the amount of tightening currently priced in (in both the U.S. and the euro area) is exaggerated,” wrote analysts at UniCredit, in a note.
