U.S. Treasury yields were mixed on Thursday as investors await signals on monetary policy from central bankers at the upcoming Jackson Hole meeting.
At 4:56 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down over 1 basis points at 4.1841%, after hitting a 16-year high on Monday. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell roughly 2 basis points to 4.2604%. At the shorter end of the curve, yields were slightly higher.
Yields move inversely to prices.
The recent surge in 10-year yields to their highest level since November 2007 came as investors grappled with a surprisingly resilient U.S. economy and the possibility that inflation sticks around, forcing the central bank to keep interest rates higher for longer.
Thursday’s market moves come ahead of the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday, which Wall Street hopes will offer some insight into the likely path of interest rates.
Richmond Fed president Thomas Barkin struck a hawkish tone on Tuesday, reiterating that the Fed needs to defend the 2% inflation target to preserve its credibility with the public.
“We have one big weapon and that is credibility,” Barkin said to the Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce. “There is nothing magic about 2 except that when you set that as a target you probably want to achieve it.”
The U.S. Treasury on Thursday will auction $80 billion in 4-week bills, $70 billion in 8-week bills and $8 billion in 29-year and six-month Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.
— CNBC’s Elliot Smith contributed to this report.