U.S. Treasury yields were steady on Wednesday morning, ahead of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy decision later in the day.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.566% at around 10:45 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond gave up 1 basis point, falling to 1.951%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
The Fed is due to wrap up its two-day policy meeting at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, followed by a press conference with Chairman Jerome Powell. The Fed is widely expected to announce that it will start winding down its $120 billion monthly bond-buying program, in the first step to paring back its emergency economic stimulus measures.
Oliver Blackbourn, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday that the Fed had “really gone out of its way this year to lay the groundwork for this announcement.”
Blackbourn added that it would be important to keep an eye on what is said in the subsequent commentary from the meeting. He explained that when the Fed had previously announced more hawkish policy, it had tended to counterbalance this with more dovish commentary.
“It’ll be interesting to see how much Chair Powell feels that he has to push that … given that the way that markets are starting to price interest rates,” Blackbourn said.
Wednesday’s ADP report showed that private job creation rose in October thanks to a burst in hiring in the hospitality sector.
Companies added 571,000 for the month, beating the 395,000 Dow Jones estimate and just ahead of September’s downwardly revised 523,000. It was the best month for jobs since June.
An auction is scheduled to be held on Wednesday for $40 billion of 119-day bills.
