U.S. Treasury yields ebbed lower in early trading on Friday, ahead of the release of retail sales data later in the morning.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.651% at 3:50 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond dipped to 2.376%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Yields eased back having spiked following a higher-than-expected inflation reading on Wednesday. April’s Consumer Price Index rose 4.2%, its biggest year-on-year increase since 2008 and well above the 3.6% expected by economists.
However, Treasury yields shook off Thursday’s higher-than-expected Producer Price Index reading, a more indirect indicator of inflation. April’s PPI rose 0.6% on the previous month, above the 0.3% expected growth and jumped 6.2% year-on-year, well above a forecast of 3.8%.
Mike Gallagher, managing director of macro and strategy at Continuum Economics, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday that year-on-year inflation index figures were “perhaps a little bit misleading.”
Instead, he focused on the monthly CPI and Personal Consumption Expenditures price index figures.
While the Federal Reserve has insisted a rise in inflation is transitory, Gallagher said if the central bank is wrong “then the market, particularly the bond market, will be demanding that the Fed moves somewhat earlier” to change its easy policy.
“We’re not at that point yet,” he added.
In terms of data out Friday, April retail sales are due to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Industrial production data for April is then set to be released at 9:15 a.m. ET.
There are no auctions slated to be held on Friday.
