Treasury rates fall after Fed minutes
US government interest rates were largely flat on Thursday, as investors digested the latest minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting.
The yield on the benchmark index for 10-year government bonds fell marginally to 2.74%. The yield on the 30-year government bond rose 1 basis point to 2.974%. Interest rates move in reverse to prices, and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
The Fed released the minutes of its May meeting on Wednesday afternoon, which indicated that the central bank was prepared to move forward with several 50 basis point interest rate increases, which potentially go further than the market expected.
The Federal Open Market Committee also said that the central bank can bypass its “neutral”[ads1]; political stance on “restrictive” territory.
Yogi Dewan, CEO and founder of Hassium Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday that Fed minutes were “much less hawkish than the market expected, and we have always seen expectations of Fed rate hikes as overvalued.”
For this reason, Dewan said that his firm expected fewer interest rate hikes due to declining economic growth, but noted that “the problem is that you do not have the financial data in front of you to justify it yet. [in terms of how] it will play out in the next three to six months. “
Treasury rates on Wednesday saw little movement after the release of the minutes, while US stocks rose.
On Thursday, a second estimate for US gross domestic product growth for the first quarter will be issued at 08.30 ET.
The number of unemployment claims filed during the week ending May 21 is also set to come out at 8:30 ET.
April’s pending home sales data is due for release at 10.00 ET.
– CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this market report.
