U.S. Treasurys climbed on Friday as investors awaited fresh inflation data and comments from Federal Reserve officials that could provide hints about future central bank monetary policy.
At 4:09 a.m. ET, the 10-year Treasury yield was trading at around 3.5715% after rising by around two basis points. The yield on the 2-year Treasury was up by more than four basis points to 4.1431%.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.
Investors looked to the release of February’s personal consumption expenditures price index, which measures how much consumers spend on a range of goods and services. It is one of the Fed’s favored inflation measures.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones are expecting core PCE figures, which exclude food and energy spending, to have increased by 0.4% on a monthly basis and 4.7% on an annual basis.
The data could provide hints about whether the economy is cooling and inflationary pressures are easing, which is likely to affect Fed monetary policy. After it’s last meeting, the central bank indicated that there could be a policy shift as interest rate hikes may be paused, but that it would be data-dependent.
Speaking at an National Association for Business Economics event on Thursday, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said that inflation is still too high and more needs to be done to bring it down. That would likely include further tightening for now, but rate hikes could be paused soon, Collins said.
Investors will be scanning fresh comments from Fed officials slated to speak on Friday. Also on Friday, personal income and spending figures are due.
