Bonds

10-year Treasury yield falls as investors weigh whether Fed is done raising rates

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The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield on Thursday dropped after the Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged again.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dropped by about 11 basis points at 4.678%. The 2-year Treasury was last 1 basis point higher at 4.983%.

Yields and prices have an inverted relationship. One basis point equals 0.01%.

Treasurys


Those moves come after further signs of softening in inflation and the labor market Thursday morning suggested the Federal Reserve could be done raising rates this year. The Fed on Wednesday kept interest rates steady for a second time in a row.

Labor costs fell by 0.8% in the third quarter compared to expectations for a 0.7% increase from economists polled by Dow Jones.

Weekly jobless claims on Thursday ticked higher to 217,000 for week ending Oct. 28, more than the 210,000 in the previous week and the 214,000 consensus estimate from Dow Jones.

However, in a press conference after the Wednesday meeting, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell did not rule out the possibility of a further interest rate hike when the central bank meets in December and noted that rate cuts are not yet being considered.

"The process of getting inflation sustainably down to 2% has a long way to go," he said.

The Fed on Wednesday also said that "economic activity expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter," and that labor market gains "remain strong" despite easing slightly. Earlier this month, Powell indicated that economic growth likely needed to slow in order for inflation to fall to the Fed's 2% target.