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Giving Home > Giving News > Finance News > Treasury Yields Rise

Treasury Yields Rise

Published January 10, 2025

U.S. Treasury yields rose after Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December policy meeting were released, and investors assessed the possibility of future interest rate cuts. Yields continued higher toward the end of the week as the latest employment data showed the labor market remains strong.

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve released the Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting on December 17 and 18, 2024. At the meeting, policy makers agreed to cut the benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%. While Fed officials agreed to cut rates, some participants noted that progress towards lowering inflation had stalled. They also revised the 2025 rate reductions forecast from four to two compared to the previous estimate made during the September meeting.

“Almost all participants judged that upside risks to the inflation outlook had increased,” noted the Minutes. “As reasons for this judgment, participants cited recent stronger-than-expected readings on inflation and the likely effects of potential changes in trade and immigration policy.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of January 6 at 4.60% and traded as high as 4.73% on Wednesday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.81% and traded as high as 4.97% on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment decreased by 10,000 to 201,000 for the week ending January 4. Continuing unemployment claims increased by 33,000, reaching 1.87 million. On Friday, the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report for December which showed an increase of 256,000 jobs, higher than the 155,000 jobs that economists expected.

“The US labor market ended 2024 on a firm footing with strong employment growth, falling unemployment and resilient wage pressures,” wrote head of multi-sector fixed income investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Lindsay Rosner. “The strength of today’s December jobs report puts to rest lingering chances of a [quarter-point] cut in January and shifts the focus to the March meeting, where further rate cuts will depend on progress on inflation.”

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of 1/6 at 4.77%, while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.95%.