US yields decline as market braces for dovish Fed
JOLTS, consumer confidence reports briefly boost yields
U.S. 10-year yields slide for four straight days
U.S. 2/10 yield curve narrows inversion
U.S. rate futures price in 67 bps of cuts in 2024
Focus on Wednesday's Treasury refunding
Adds new comment, graphic, updates prices
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, July 30 (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury yields drifted lower on Tuesday, asinvestors geared up for a Federal Reserve meeting thatis expected to hold interest rates unchanged this week while flagging monetary policy easing at the September meet.
U.S. yields did edge higher earlier after a generally positive consumer confidence report and following widely tracked jobs data that continued to show a resilient labor market.
The reports though did not change expectationsthe Fed will keep its benchmark rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range for an eighth straight meeting on Wednesday. The Fed is also widely expected to signal it will cut rates two months from now for the first time in more than four years.
"The whisper expectation is for the Fed to acknowledge softness in inflation and the labor market and maybe acknowledge the potential for policy adjustment in September," said Thomas Urano, co-chief investment officer, atSage Advisory in Austin, Texas.
"Ultimately, we think the data will continue to show a much normalized labor market, if not weak, along with an inflation that's running in the Fed's target zone."
Aside from the Fed decision, the Treasury on Wednesday will announce auction sizes for the sale of bills, notes, and coupons in a quarterly refunding aimed at raising new cash from private investors. The market does not expect any change in auction sizes as indicatedin the May refunding announcement, but banks like Barclays will be watching out for the Treasury'sguidance on how long those will remain unchanged.
Tuesday's data, meanwhile, showed U.S. job openings fell marginally in June while data for the prior month was revised higher, suggesting a labor market that is slowing but stable. Job openings dropped46,000 to 8.184 million by the last day of June, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, showed.
At the same time, U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly rose in July, but remained in a tight range of the past two years. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index increased to 100.3 this month from a downwardly revised 97.8 in June.
In afternoon trading, the benchmark 10-year yield US10YT=RR was down 3.1 basis points (bps) at 4.147%, slipping for four straight sessions. It slid to a two-week trough on Monday.
U.S. 30-year bond yields US30YT=RR also retreated, down 2.9 bps at 4.04%.
On the short end of the curve, the two-year US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in line with rate expectations,fell 2.6 bps to 4.36%.
The closely watched U.S. two-year/10-year yield curve modestly narrowedits inversion, or steepened to minus 21.6 bps US2US10=TWEB, as investors look ahead to the Fed's incoming rate-cutting cycle.
Yield curves typically steepen ahead of a Fed easing phase, with investors pricing in lower yields on the front end. A steeper curve shows longer-dated yields rising more than shorter maturities, with a normal upward slope.
The rate futures market continues to fully price in a rate cut in September, with about 67 bps of easing factoredin this year, LSEG calculations showed. That is equivalent to about two to three rate cuts of 25 bps each.
The market, however, has increasingly priced in chances of a 50 bps cut, now at 12.5%, from zero a few weeks ago.
Greg Wilensky, head of U.S. fixed income at Janus Henderson Investors, with assets under management of $352.6 billion, said that was not his base case.
"The Fed will be responsive as to how the economy evolves as far as talking about a 50 basis-point cut. That would have to be more driven by economic weakness, specifically from the labor market. It would have to be a recession."
JOLTS https://reut.rs/46I0Rwt
Consumer confidence https://reut.rs/3yaeQye
Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Will Dunham, Andrea Ricci and Marguerita Choy
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