Treasury yields dip ahead of key inflation data

U.S. Treasury yields were lower on Friday, with investors looking to the release of key inflation data as they weighed the state of the economy.

At 3:23 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by over one basis point to 3.7714%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last at 3.6021% after falling by more than two basis points.

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

Investors on Friday focused on the release of August’s personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge and could therefore provide clues about the monetary policy outlook.

Economists are expecting headline PCE to reflect a 2.3% increase on an annual basis and a 0.1% rise from the previous month. Personal income and spending data will be released alongside the PCE figures.

The data comes as investors have been giving renewed attention to the state of the economy after the Federal Reserve announced a hotly anticipated interest rate cut earlier in the month.

Data published Thursday calmed questions about whether there could be an economic downturn ahead and indicated to some investors that the Fed’s reasoning for cutting rates was not in fact a weakening economy.

The final reading of the second-quarter gross domestic product was unrevised, remaining at 3%, while weekly initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected and durable goods orders for August were unchanged compared with the forecast decline.