U.S. government bond yields traded lower on Monday while investors digested speeches from Federal Reserve officials.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note traded lower at 2.258 percent in New York, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 2.838 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
Yields traded higher earlier in the session, building on Friday's better-than-expected jobs report.
Treasurys
Yields had risen on Friday following a stronger-than-expected jobs report. The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs last month, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
The strong number has some investors betting the Fed will raise rates once more later this year. But some are skeptical about whether the central bank will be able to raise rates given recently weak inflation metrics. Market expectations for a rate hike in December are around 50 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in prepared slides that the Federal Reserve can keep interest rates where they are now. Despite strong jobs numbers, Bullard said that the Fed will scrutinize weak inflation metrics over the next few months.
"The current level of the policy rate is likely to remain appropriate over the near term," Bullard said.
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE), the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation, has been running at a lethargic 1.5 percent. Bullard noted that measure of inflation is forecast to rise only to 1.8 percent even if the U.S. unemployment rate falls to 3 percent from the current 4.3 percent.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari also spoke on Monday at a Sioux Falls Rotary Club event. Kashkari addressed President's Trump recent plan to reduce immigration to the United States in his comments.
"Do we want economic growth, or not? That's what it comes down to," Kashkari said, arguing that reductions in immigration would yield reductions in economic growth.
Last week, President Trump announced his support of a bill that would aim to make job skills a priority for people to obtain legal permanent residency rather than family connections. It would also slash the number of refugees coming to the U.S.
In the political sphere, investors will be keeping a close eye on tensions surrounding North Korea. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in jointly agreed in a call, to apply maximum pressure and sanctions on North Korea, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, North Korea responded to the United Nations' latest sanctions imposed on the country, stating that it would infringe the country's sovereignty; Reuters added, citing the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Looking to commodities, oil prices ticked lower in morning trade as rising output from OPEC members weighed on sentiment.
—Reuters contributed to this report.