The bond market was mostly flat Wednesday after wild morning trading, with disappointing ADP jobs data knocking the 10-year Treasury yield to its lowest level since February before a strong services economy reading caused it to reverse higher.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note added 1 basis point at 1.184% by 1:12 p.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond edged 1.2 basis points lower at 1.84%. Yields move inversely to prices and one basis point equals 0.01%.
The latest Services ISM Report On Business showed economic activity in the services sector grew last month. The July Services Purchasing Managers’ Index came in at an all-time high of 64.1% in July, higher than the June reading and the prior record-high May number.
The better-than-expected services reading appeared to ease some concerns about economic growth, with bond yields pushing into the green shortly after.
Earlier Wednesday, payroll processing firm ADP reported private company job creation fell in July as fears mounted over the spreading coronavirus delta variant.
Employers added 330,000 positions for the month, a sharp deceleration from the downwardly revised 680,000 in June and well below the 653,000 Dow Jones estimate. June’s final total fell from the initial estimate of 692,000. July’s job growth was also the smallest gain since February.
This comes ahead of weekly jobless claims data due out on Thursday and the highly anticipated July nonfarm payroll report, set to be released on Friday.
Investors will be watching this week’s employment data closely, given that the Federal Reserve is using the recovery in the jobs market as a key indicator to gauge when it should start discussing tightening its ultra-easy monetary policy.
—CNBC’s Maggie Fitzgerald contributed reporting.
