US yields slip as investors await 5-year note auction
- The US Treasury is also set to auction $61 billion in 5-year notes later on Wednesday and $62 billion in 7-year debt on Thursday.
- In mid-morning trading, the US 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.553% from 1.564% late on Tuesday.
NEW YORK: US Treasury yields slid on Wednesday in generally quiet trading, with investors looking to a 5-year note auction later in the session to gauge demand for US debt following Tuesday's strong 2-year note sale.
US 10-year, 20-year and 30-year yields continued their grind lower with the yield curve flattening for a fifth straight session, which analysts said suggested ebbing inflation fears. The Federal Reserve reiterated its view, through officials that spoke this week, that current inflation pressures are temporary.
The US Treasury is also set to auction $61 billion in 5-year notes later on Wednesday and $62 billion in 7-year debt on Thursday.
"We generally expect both auctions to go fairly well so it shouldn't push yields too much higher over the next couple of days as things thin out going into the holiday weekend," said Zachary Griffiths, macro strategist at Wells Fargo.
The US bond market is closed on Monday for the Memorial day holiday.
"You'll probably see more pressure on long-end yields as long as these auctions go fairly well," Griffiths added.
In mid-morning trading, the US 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.553% from 1.564% late on Tuesday.
"Our core view is that long-term yields will continue to rise given a global reopening story and heavy Treasury supply which isn't changing anytime soon," Wells Fargo's Griffiths said. "We have inflation heating up which points to a gradual move higher in rates."
That said, the Wells Fargo analyst said his team has lowered its mid-year yield target in the 10-year to 1.85% from its original estimate of 2%.
US 30-year yields, meanwhile, were down at 2.239% from Tuesday's 2.26%.
Ahead of the auction, the US 5-year yield was little changed ay 0.771%.
The yield curve as measured by the spread between 2-year and 10-year yields narrowed further to 140.80 basis points on Wednesday.
In the overnight repo market, the rate was steady at 0.02% , after falling to -0.01% earlier this week amid a glut of cash in the financial system.
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