Treasury yields are slightly lower as markets assess Fed rate policy outlook

U.S. Treasury yields were slightly lower Friday as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s November meeting minutes, which suggested that interest rate hikes would be slowed in the coming months. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was about one basis point lower at 3.698%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last trading at around 4.475%, also about one basis point lower. Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point equals 0.01%. As markets re-opened for a half-day of trading on Friday, after remaining closed for Thanksgiving on Thursday, they continued to absorb the Fed’s November meeting minutes published earlier in the week. The minutes suggested that the central bank would soon slow the pace of interest rate hikes. “A substantial majority of participants judged that a slowing in the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate,” they said, echoing the tone struck by Fed speakers in recent weeks. Central bank officials have been indicating that whilst rates will continue to rise, they will likely do so in smaller increments. This has been welcomed by many investors as concerns about the speed of rate hikes leading the U.S. economy into a recession have spread. According to the Fed minutes, uncertainty about how quickly and how significantly their policies would impact the wider economy and inflation were the biggest factors for officials when considering a slowdown of rate hikes. Next week, investors will weigh more comments from Fed officials and economic reports, including inflation data and the November employment print.