Treasury yields edge higher as investors monitor stimulus hopes and U.S.-China relations
U.S. government debt prices were slightly lower Monday morning as investors monitored the state of U.S. stimulus talks and the latest fraying of relations between Washington and Beijing.
At around 2 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was higher at 0.5657% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond edged up to 1.2343%. Yields move inversely to prices.
President Donald Trump on Saturday signed a series of executive orders on coronavirus relief, circumventing Congress after lawmakers failed to agree on a fresh round of fiscal stimulus to temper the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Democrats have argued that the executive orders will be ineffective and unconstitutional, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday signaled a willingness to restart negotiations.
Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said in an interview with CBS News on Sunday that a fresh round of financial aid would be vital to enabling workers to stay home and curtail the spread of the pandemic. The U.S. has now reported more than 5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, with more than 162,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Investors also have an eye on relations between the U.S. and China in the aftermath of Trump’s executive order banning Chinese tech giants TikTok and WeChat. U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar voiced strong support for Taiwan on Monday, a move likely to further irk Beijing.
On the data front, JOLTs job openings for June are expected at 10 a.m. ET ahead of consumer inflation expectations at 11 a.m. ET.
Auctions will be held for $54 billion of 13-week Treasury bills and $51 billion of 26-week bills.
