Treasuries Show Modest Move Back To The Upside

(RTTNews) - Treasuries saw modest strength during trading on Tuesday, regaining ground after coming under pressure during last Friday's session.

Bond prices gave back ground late in the session after an early advance but remained in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.0 basis points to 4.725 percent.

The modest rebound by treasuries came as traders looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.

"The minutes of the Federal Reserve's January Federal Open Market Committee meeting may clarify how much more 'good data' the Fed's policymakers want to see before starting to reduce interest rates," said Bill Adams, Chief Economist for Comerica Bank.

He added, "Chair Powell said at the press conference following the January decision that he saw a March cut as unlikely, but was uncharacteristically vague about exactly what the Fed's preconditions for cuts are; this suggests FOMC members still disagree about the issue."

Ahead of the release of the minutes, CME Group's FedWatch is currently indicating just an 8.5 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in March.

Trading activity on Wednesday may be somewhat subdued head of the release of the Fed minutes later in the afternoon.