U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Thursday as investors looked ahead to fresh inflation data and considered remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
At 6:21 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was flat at 4.279%. The 2-year Treasury yield was nearly down marginally at 4.626%.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point equals 0.01%.
Investors awaited fresh inflation insights that could provide hints about the path ahead for interest rates. The consumer price index is expected on Thursday, followed by the producer price index on Friday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting June’s CPI to reflect a 0.1% rise on a monthly basis and 3.1% from a year earlier. This would suggest an easing of inflation as the annual figure came in at 3.3% in May.
The core CPI, which does not include food and energy costs, is forecast to have increased 0.2% in June from the previous month and 3.4% on an annual basis.
The Fed’s target rate for inflation is 2%. The central bank has said it would not cut interest rates until data shows that inflation is sustainably easing toward this target.
Investors also weighed comments Powell made on Capitol Hill this week. Powell spoke before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
While he did not give a clear indication of when interest rates could be cut, he said the central bank did not need to wait until the 2% target had been reached before cutting rates.
CME Group’s FedWatch tool last showed that investors were pricing in an over 71% chance of rates being cut in September.
