U.S. Treasury yields were lower early on Monday as investors looked ahead to key jobs data and monitored the U.S.-Iran war, which entered its fifth week.
At 4:13 a.m. ET, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was down over 4 basis points to 4.393%, while the 30-year Treasury bond also shed 4 basis points to yield at 4.933%. The 2-year Treasury yield was lower by 2 basis points to 3.891%.
One basis point equals 0.01%, and yields move inversely to prices.
Investors are awaiting several employment reports during the holiday-shortened trading week. The market will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.
The closely-watched Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) will be released at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, while the ADP Employment Survey is also due on Wednesday. The key nonfarm payrolls Report is slated for release on Friday morning.
“Looking at the week ahead, we should start to learn about the economic consequences of the conflict, as several data releases for March are out, which cover the period since the strikes began on February 28,” Deutsche Bank analysts said in a note.
In the latest developments on the Middle East conflict, U.S. President Donald Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday that he could “take the oil in Iran,” and seize the country’s export hub of Kharg Island. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options,” Trump said.
The ISM Manufacturing report on Wednesday will also show early indicators of inflationary pressures linked to the conflict and its impact on component costs, according to the Deutsche Bank analysts.
“Otherwise in the US, the focus will be on whether higher oil prices have started to impact business sentiment and inflation in a meaningful way,” they added.
