U.S. Treasury yields were lower at the long end of the curve on Wednesday as investors assessed the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium.
Treasurys
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down 13 basis points at 4.2%, a welcome reprieve after hitting a 16-year high on Monday, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond also fell 14 basis points to 4.27%. Yields move inversely to prices. At the shorter end of the curve, yields were marginally higher.
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.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at the conclusion of the two-day symposium in Wyoming on Friday, with a slew of central bank officials due to give remarks before that.
Investors will be watching closely for clues about the trajectory of the economy and its implication for monetary policy, in the hope that the Fed's last rate increase at its July meeting would mark the end of a rate-hiking campaign that began in early March 2022.
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."
Correction: The 10-year Treasury note hit a 16-year high on Monday. An earlier version of this story misstated the timing of that benchmark.