U.S. Treasuries ended today's session on a lower note and the yield curve saw some slight steepening at the short-end as the 2-yr note largely withstood the selling that weighed across the complex. Treasuries appeared to be on the comeback trail in the morning, but returned to lows after the release of May Housing Starts (1164K; Briefing.com consensus 1150K) and Building Permits (1138K; Briefing.com consensus 1150K). The Dollar Index (94.17 -0.4%) spent the day in negative territory, ending the week near levels that have been seen frequently over the past two months.
YieldCheck:
2-yr: +1 bp to 0.69%
5-yr: +4 bps to 1.12%
10-yr: +4 bps to 1.61%
30-yr: +4 bps to 2.43%
News:
St. Louis Fed President and voting FOMC member James Bullard made headlines, saying that he believes only one rate hike will be warranted through 2018. Mr. Bullard had voiced support for four rate hikes as recently as mid-January
Rate hike expectations receded with the fed funds futures market pricing in just a 45.0% chance of a rate hike in December. The probability of a hike in July receded to 10.0% from 23.0% at the end of last week.
Germany's 10-yr yield ended the week at 0.018% after marking a record low at -0.038%.
Commodities:
WTI crude +4.0% to $48.05/bbl
Gold UNCH at 1,298.20/ozt
Silver -0.9% to 17.45/ozt
Copper +0.2% to 2.053/lb
Currencies:
EUR/USD: +0.5% to 1.1282
GBP/USD: +1.1% to 1.4361
USD/JPY: -0.1% to 104.22
No data scheduled for Monday or Tuesday, but Fed Chair Janet Yellen's semiannual monetary policy testimony will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday
