NEW YORK: US Treasury yields edged higher on Wednesday, trading with very little direction, ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting, which could shed light on discussions as to the timing of the first interest rate cut.
Wednesday’s minutes reflect a policy meeting held before the release of data showing a strong U.S. nonfarm payrolls report as well as the higher-than-expected consumer and producer prices for January.
Analysts said the minutes should reinforce the Fed’s stance of being patient about starting its easing cycle and validate the market’s pushing out of rate cuts to the June meeting, instead of March.
“At this point, the market needs to see new data that shows a reversal of inflation or not: meaning whether the benign numbers we saw towards the end of 2023 are really the story of inflation going forward, or is it the strong numbers we saw last week,” said Jim Barnes, director of…
