Yields flat as Wall Street bounces after sharp loss

NEW YORK: Treasury yields were little changed Tuesday morning, moving less than a basis point across maturities a day after hitting six-week lows, as hopes for a US-China trade deal boosted the equity market after Monday's heavy selloff.

"We've been mostly tracking what has been going on in the equity market. To that end I would say that we've had some positive tweets coming from the president and you've seen a little bit of a recovery in futures and consequently a sideways move in the rates market," said Subadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy at Societe Generale.

Wall Street opened higher a day after one of the worst selloffs this year. In morning trade, Treasury yields remained near six-week lows hit Monday when investors piled into the low-risk asset after China announced plans to impose additional tariffs on US-made goods.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was last up half a basis point, as were the five- and seven-year note yields. The 30-year bond yield was 0.7 basis point higher.

Worries about the trade war abated somewhat on Monday after US President Donald Trump said he would talk to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in late June, while China said both sides have agreed to keep the talks going. Some investors were still encouraged on Tuesday even though Trump defended his trade war in a series of early-morning tweets.

At the open on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.55%, the S&P 500 was up 0.50%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite was up 0.55%. On Monday, the S&P and the Dow notched their largest percentage drops since Jan. 3 and the Nasdaq logged its worst day in 2019.

US import prices rose less than expected in April as increases in the cost of petroleum and food were tempered by the largest decrease in the price of capital goods in 10 years, suggesting inflation could remain tame.

Weak inflation could keep the Federal Reserve from raising US interest rates, reflected in the unchanged two-year note yield on Tuesday morning, last 0.1 basis point lower.

"The focus of the week is going to be on retail sales tomorrow, on the data front," said Rajappa.

"We're not going to a see a feed-through of recent tariff discussions on retail sales. It's really a question of whether we are keeping up the momentum from the first quarter on the consumer front."