Treasuries See Further Upside Ahead Of Key Economic Data

(RTTNews) - After moving modestly higher over the course of the previous session, treasuries saw further upside during trading on Wednesday.

Bond prices advanced in morning trading and remained firmly positive throughout the afternoon. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by 3.8 basis points at 4.196 percent.

Treasuries continued to benefit from optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week.

While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, officials maintained their forecast for three rate cuts this year.

Following the Fed announcement, the chances of a 25 basis point rate cut in June have rebounded to 63.5 percent, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Treasuries remained firmly positive as the Treasury Department revealed this month's auction of $43 billion worth of seven-year notes attracted modestly above average demand.

The seven-year note auction drew a high yield of 4.185 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.61, while the ten previous seven-year note auctions had an average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.55.

The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold.

Trading on Thursday may be impacted by reaction to reports on weekly jobless claims, Chicago business activity and pending home sales.

A report on personal income and spending that includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve is also due to be released while the markets are closed on Good Friday.

The holiday will also see Fed Chair Jerome Powell participate in a moderated discussion before the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Conference.