U.S. Treasuries gain ahead of a host of FOMC speeches through the week

The U.S. Treasuries gained as investors remain geared up to witness a host of speeches by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members throughout this week. Also, the 30-year auction, scheduled to be held on June 22 will further bring the debt market into the limelight.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury, fell 1 basis point to 2.15 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also slipped nearly 1-1/2 basis points to 2.77 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year note traded flat at 1.32 percent by 11:10GMT.

Last week, the FOMC raised the Federal Funds rate by 25 basis points to 1.00-1.25 percent, as expected, and provided some details on how it plans to start reducing its balance sheet "relatively soon". The medium-term interest rate projections were unchanged suggesting one more hike by the end of this year and three hikes in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

The updated Summary of Economic Projections was largely in line with expectations containing a few mild surprises, mainly an upward revision in 2017 real GDP forecast to 2.2 percent from 2.1 percent and a significant downward reassessment in 2017 PCE inflation projection to 1.6 percent from 1.9 percent.

Lastly, the country’s Initial and continuing jobless claims continued to signal healthy labour markets. For the week ending June 10, initial jobless claims edged lower to 237k (-8k), declining a touch more than expected (consensus: 241k). This takes the four-week moving average to 243k, in line with levels recorded in late January of this year.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures traded 0.34 percent higher at 2,439.00 by 12:10GMT, while at 12:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at 33.14 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex