10-year Treasury yields slide after Powell remarks point to Fed rate cuts

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell Friday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled to rate cuts ahead at the annual Jackson Hole symposium.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down about 6 basis points at 3.799%, and the yield on the 2-year Treasury pulled back about 7 basis points to 3.939%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.

“The time has come for policy to adjust,” the central bank leader said. “The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”

The central bank chair, however, failed to provide insight into when the cuts would take place and the magnitude of the decreases.

Market participant had been looking ahead to Powell’s speech as investors hunt for more insight into the central bank’s policy meeting on the heels of a volatile trading month.

Earlier in the week, minutes from the Fed’s July meeting showed that the “vast majority” of central bank officials “observed that, if the data continued to come in about as expected, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting.”

The news seemed to reassure traders pricing in a interest rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting. Traders are currently pricing in a more than 75% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut in September, with about a quarter pricing in a 50-basis-point rate cut, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.