U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Wednesday as investors assessed the state of the economy after the release of labor market data.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was less than 1 basis point higher at 4.174%. It had fallen below the 4.2% mark for the first time since early September on Tuesday.
The 2-year Treasury yield was last higher by 1 basis point at 4.589%, making up for some losses after having fallen by as many as 7 basis points on Tuesday.
Yields fall when the price of bonds rises. One basis point equals 0.01%.
Treasury yields fell on Tuesday after JOLTs job openings figures for October came in lower than expected and indicated a cooling of the labor market — 8.73 million openings were recorded, a drop of 617,000 and far below the 9.4 million Dow Jones estimate.
Traders got another sign of job market cooling on Wednesday, as ADP data also came in below forecasts. Private payrolls increased by 103,000 in November, under the Dow Jones estimate of 128,000.
Investors took the data as a signal that the Federal Reserve’s interest rates hikes could be taking effect. The data could also affect Fed policy as officials have repeatedly indicated that their decision-making is data-led.
Data on jobless claims, nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and wages is expected later in the week.
Uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates, which the Fed began hiking in early 2022 to cool the economy and ease inflation, has spread in recent weeks. Though the Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged when it meets next week, there have been few hints about how long rates are set to remain elevated.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said last week that it is still too early to speculate about rate cuts and also did not take the option for further rate hikes off the table