U.S. Treasury yields were lower on Friday, with the benchmark 10-year rate seen holding above the 2% level following the hottest inflation reading in four decades.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped 1 basis point to 2.0119%. It comes shortly after the yield, which serves as a reference point for financial assets worldwide, climbed above 2% for the first time since August 2019 in the previous session.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond, meanwhile, fell 4 basis points to trade at 2.2687%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury bond, the most sensitive duration to interest rates, was last seen trading at 1.61%. The 2-year surged 26 basis points at one point on Thursday, marking its biggest single-day move since 2009.
This comes after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Thursday that the consumer price index had risen 7.5% in January from a year earlier, the fastest pace of U.S. inflation since February 1982.
The hotter-than-expected inflation reading prompted St. Louis Fed President James Bullard to call for accelerating rate hikes — a full percentage point increase by the start of July.
The futures market also repriced rate-hike odds as CME data pointed to a near-100% chance of a 50-basis-point increase at the March meeting. Meanwhile, the market is forecasting a more aggressive schedule for the rest of this year, calling for as many as seven hikes.
In terms of economic data on Friday, investors are likely to monitor a preliminary reading of consumer sentiment for February at around 10.00 a.m. ET.
There are no Treasury auctions scheduled to be held on Friday.
— CNBC’s Yun Li contributed to this report.
