NEW YORK: US Treasury yields were flat to slightly lower in choppy trading on Monday after Friday's stronger-than-expected US non-farm payrolls report, with no real influences ahead of government bond and corporate supply this week.
Yields seesawed between gains and losses in New York's morning session, with traders noting thin two-way flows.
"It's a little quieter today than we had last week," said interest rates strategist Gennadiy Goldberg of TD Securities in New York. "To some extent, we are still following through with the move on Friday."
In the absence of major US economic data, the market was focused on a heavy schedule of government and corporate bond issues this week, which could push Treasury yields higher.
The government is selling $62 billion in coupons in its August refunding, beginning Tuesday with the $24 billion three-year note, followed on Wednesday with $23 billion in 10-year notes, and finally with $15 billion in 30-year bonds on Thursday.
There are also corporate bond issues between $25 billion and 30 billion, according to Action Economics.
The US yield curve continued to steepen on Monday, with the spread between the five-year and 30-year rising to 102.3 basis points.
However, the two-year and 10-year yield curve flattened a bit, with the spread narrowing to 90.30 basis points after widening earlier in the session.
In general, a steeper yield curve suggests investors may finally be pricing some inflation, which was evident in Friday's data showing average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent in July after rising 0.2 percent in June. That was the biggest increase in five months. Wages rose 2.5 percent in the 12 months through July, matching June's gain.
In late morning trading, US 10-year yields slipped to 2.263 percent from 2.269 percent late on Friday.
US 30-year bonds yielded 2.844 percent, unchanged from the previous day.
US two-year yields were at 1.358 percent, little changed from Friday.
Sovereign bond yields in Europe briefly traded in tandem with Treasuries. Germany's benchmark 10-year bond rose from one-month lows after data showed industrial output in Germany, the euro zone's biggest economy, unexpectedly fell 1.1 percent in June from a month earlier.
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