U.S. Treasuries range-bound ahead of Trump-Xi meeting, FOMC member Williams’ speech

The U.S. Treasuries traded range-bound during late afternoon session Friday ahead of President Donald Trump’s weekend showdown with Xi in Buenos Aires for the meeting with Chinese Xi.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasuries slipped 1-1/2 basis point to 3.019 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also fell 1-1/2 basis points to 3.312 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded flat at 2.813 percent by 11:40GMT.

All eyes are on the meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina late on Saturday which will aim at resolving the trade dispute between the two countries. Awaiting the outcome of the meeting, Asian bourses ended mixed earlier today and major European bourses opened slightly lower.

The November FOMC minutes that were released yesterday supported the view for another 25bps rate hike at the Fed’s next policy meeting in December. More importantly, they revealed that the Committee discussed that the post-meeting statement might need to be revised “at coming meetings”, particularly the phase referring to expectations for “further gradual increases” in the target range, fuelling market talk that the Fed may be close to the end of its rate tightening cycle.

Apart from the Trump-Xi meeting, it should be an uneventful day for economic news from the US. The week’s data diary will conclude with the release of the Chicago PMI for November while New York Fed President John Williams will speak on the global economy.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures remained tad 0.42 percent lower at 2,732.75 by 11:45GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at 39.76 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex