The 10-year Treasury yield edged lower on Friday as investors weighed mixed economic data and assessed the state of the economy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury sat at 4.41%, down just over 2 basis points. The 2-year Treasury yield was last trading at 4.367% after rising nearly 2 basis points.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.
Investors considered the current state and outlook for the U.S. economy after Thursday and Friday brought a series of mixed data points.
PMI surveys released Friday ticked higher from October to November. However, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment gauge came in below where economists expected.
The latest weekly initial jobless claims came in at 213,000, below the previous week’s figure and Wall Street economists’ expectations. The data suggests the labor market is holding steady, or even strengthening.
But other figures that were also released Thursday indicated weakness in the economy. Continuing claims for jobless insurance rose to 1.908 million and came in ahead of forecasts, while the Philadelphia Federal Reserve manufacturing index of activity in the region slowed to -5.5 in November. That was against economists’ estimate of +6.9.
Investors also assessed the latest comments from Federal Reserve officials, scanning them for hints about whether a third back-to-back interest rate cut could be announced when policymakers meet again next month.
Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee on Thursday indicated that he saw the need for more rate cuts ahead, but cautioned that the pace of reductions could slow. His comments came after Fed Governor Michelle Bowman earlier in the week suggested the fight to bring inflation lower “appears to have stalled.”