That said, still high inflation could also make it unlikely that the Fed will cut rates anytime soon. "The details of the print suggest that we are still a meaningful distance from the Fed’s 2% target, giving little reason for the Fed to cut this year," Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo, Co-head of portfolio management for Multi Asset Solutions at Goldman Sachs Asset Management said in a note. "We believe the Fed will remain on hold for longer than markets are pricing."
Fed funds futures traders are pricing in a 97% likelihood that the Fed will leave rates unchanged at its June meeting, and also see around 78 basis points of rate cuts by year-end. The CPI report for May is due on June 13, one day before the Fed will conclude its two-day meeting. Ongoing concerns about the U.S. regional banking sector and the debt ceiling standoff, if it is not resolved, could also make the U.S. central bank more likely to pause rate hikes. One-month Treasury bill yields also hit a record high of 5.811% earlier on Wednesday as some investors avoided U.S. government debt that comes due when the Treasury could run out of funds, as Congress continues to negotiate on raising the debt ceiling. Detailed talks on raising the U.S. government's $31.4 trillion debt limit kicked off on Wednesday with Republicans insisting on deep spending cuts, the day after Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy's first meeting in three months. The Treasury sold $35 billion in 10-year notes on Wednesday to average demand, the second auction of $96 billion in coupon-bearing supply this week.
The notes sold at a
high yield of 3.448%
, less than a basis point above where they had traded before
the auction. Demand was 2.45 times the amount of debt on offer,
the highest since February. The government saw strong demand for $40 billion in
three-year notes on Tuesday and will also sell $21 billion in
30-year bonds on Thursday.
May 10 Wednesday 3:00PM New York / 1900 GMT
Price Current Net
Yield % Change
(bps)
Three-month bills 5.08 5.2176 -0.063
Six-month bills 4.9 5.1082 -0.051
Two-year note 99-242/256 3.9036 -0.120
Three-year note 100-46/256 3.5613 -0.128
Five-year note 100-148/256 3.3725 -0.122
Seven-year note 100-160/256 3.3984 -0.102
10-year note 100-128/256 3.4388 -0.083
20-year bond 100-4/256 3.8735 -0.058
30-year bond 96-240/256 3.7974 -0.052
DOLLAR SWAP SPREADS
Last (bps) Net
Change
(bps)
U.S. 2-year dollar swap 21.50 -0.25
spread
U.S. 3-year dollar swap 17.25 3.25
spread
U.S. 5-year dollar swap 9.25 0.50
spread
U.S. 10-year dollar swap 1.00 0.75
spread
U.S. 30-year dollar swap -43.25 0.25
spread
(Reporting by Karen Brettell; Additional reporting by Herb Lash
in New York; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Andrea Ricci and Diane
Craft)