Yields tumble as market prepares for US jobs data

CHICAGO: US Treasury yields fell on Monday as the market awaited the release of June employment data later in the week to gauge the strength of the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The benchmark 10-year yield was last down 4.8 basis points at 1.4884%. Last week, it notched its largest weekly gain since March.

George Goncalves, head of US macro strategy at MUFG in New York, said with the 10-year yield topping 1.5%, investors were buying the dip as the market waited to see just how strong employment was in June.

"If we're to get the numbers we were supposed to get that didn't happen during Q2, but we're going to get them in Q3 and Q4, then we'll see rates continue to climb higher because that gives the window for the (Federal Reserve) to taper," he said, referring to a potential reduction in the US central bank's $120 billion in monthly bond purchases.

Nonfarm payrolls are expected to have increased by 690,000 in June, after rising by 559,000 in May, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The unemployment rate is forecast to have fallen to 5.7%, from 5.8% in May.

The two-year Treasury yield was 1.2 basis points lower at 0.2582%.

A closely watched part of the yield curve that measures the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes was 2.41 basis points flatter at 123.02 basis points.

The yield curve measuring the gap between 5- and 30-year yields was about 1.46 basis points flatter at 121 basis points.