The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose as traders downplayed October jobs data showing meager job growth that was hurt by hurricanes and striking workers, and was far below what Wall Street was expecting.
The 10-year Treasury yield jumped nearly 10 basis points at 4.382%. The 2-year Treasury yield was higher by 5 basis points at 4.216%. The uptick in yields marks a continuation of their recent rebound from October.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.
The October nonfarm payrolls report showed a gain of just 12,000 jobs for the month. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were expecting growth of 100,000 jobs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics cautioned that the report was influenced by hurricanes and the strike at Boeing. Those complications may have dampened the reaction to the miss among traders.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%.
The murky jobs report could play a role in next week’s meeting of Federal Reserve officials, where the central bank will decide how to follow up September’s 50 basis point rate cut.
“While the Fed will likely attribute some of the weakness in today’s data to one-off factors, the softness in today’s data argues for the Fed to continue its easing cycle at next week[‘s] meeting. Stormy numbers but sky clearing for November 25 bp cut,” Lindsay Rosner, head of multi sector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a statement.
Investors this week have weighed a series of key economic reports published throughout the week, including Thursday’s personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed’s favored inflation gauge.
The index rose 2.1% in September on an annual basis and 0.2% from the previous month. Both of those readings were in line with expectations of economists polled by Dow Jones.
The PCE was the last key inflation insight due to be published before the Fed makes its next interest rate decision on Nov. 7. LSEG data showed that markets were last widely pricing in a 25 basis point rate cut from the central bank then.
