U.S. Treasury yields held steady on Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s meeting minutes from July and for more insights about the path of monetary policy.
At 5:45 a.m. ET, the 10-year treasury yield rose less than a basis point to 4.304%, and the 2-year yield was also little changed at 3.758%.
One basis point is equal to 0.01% and yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Investors are anticipating the Fed’s meeting minutes from its Federal Open Market Committee meeting in July, where policymakers decided to keep interest rates unchanged. The meeting minutes are particularly in focus as Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman dissented on the decision, the first time two voting Fed officials have done so since 1993.
Global central bankers will gather in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from Thursday to Saturday for the Fed’s annual economic symposium, which investors will monitor for hints about future monetary policy decisions. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is slated to give a speech on Friday at the symposium.
Traders are pricing in a nearly 83% chance of interest rate cuts in September, per the CME’s FedWatch Tool.
“We expect this year’s Jackson Hole meeting to offer an opportunity for Powell to again nod towards monetary easing,” said Andrzej Skiba, head of the BlueBay U.S. Fixed Income team at RBC Global Asset Management. “While there are some hot spots in this month’s inflation reading, it’s probably not enough to deter the doves on the committee.”