Treasury yields mixed as investors await key U.S. inflation data – NBC Los Angeles

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were almost unchanged on Thursday as investors awaited the key inflation report due on Friday.

The 10-year Treasury yield was slightly lower at 3.839%, while the 2-year Treasury yield rose less than 1 basis point to 3.873%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.

This move comes as market participants await new economic data. On Friday, the focus is likely to be on the US Federal Reserve's preferred inflation indicator.

The latest U.S. data on initial jobless claims and second-quarter gross domestic product will both be released around 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. The pending July home sales figures are expected to follow a little later in the session.

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in the United States will be released on the last trading day of August. The reading could provide further clues about the interest rate outlook. Federal Reserve officials use the PCE reading as the main basis for measuring inflation.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said late last week that it was “time for a policy adjustment,” bolstering expectations for a rate cut at the central bank's next meeting. Powell, however, declined to provide specifics on the timing or magnitude of the cut.

Market participants are firmly expecting a rate cut at the Fed's meeting on September 18. According to the CME Group's FedWatch tool, traders are currently calculating a probability of around 65.5 percent for a rate cut of 25 basis points next month, while 34.5 percent are calculating a cut of 50 basis points.