U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Monday as investor attention turned to the Federal Reserve meeting and interest rate decision slated for later in the week.
At 4:45 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by less than one basis point to 4.312%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last more than one basis point lower at 3.824%.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.
Markets are looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on Wednesday. According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders were last pricing in an over 98% chance of rates being left unchanged by the central bank.
However, investors will be eager to scan the Fed’s policy statement and the post-meeting press conference for hints about the potential path ahead for interest rates. The meeting comes at a time where U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to put pressure on the Fed to lower rates in a challenge to the central bank’s independence from the executive branch of the U.S. government.
Trump has also been critical of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, with the White House at one point exploring whether the president could fire him. The president has since scaled back his criticism after fears that he might try and replace Powell spooked markets.
On the data front, PMI data for the services sector from both S&P Global and ISM are expected Monday, followed by import and export data and weekly initial jobless claims later in the week.
It comes after data released Friday showed that job growth was stronger than expected in April. Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payrolls rose by 177,000, below the downwardly revised 185,000 in March but ahead of the expected 133,000.
