U.S. Treasuries lose ground on strong cues from global equities; FOMC speeches in focus

The U.S. Treasuries lost ground at the start of the week on Monday in reaction to strong cues from the Wall Street ahead of a host of speeches by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members Harker and Kashkari, scheduled to be held later in the day.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury, which moves inversely to its price, climbed 1/2 basis point to 2.25 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields traded flat at 2.90 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year note traded 1-1/2 basis points higher at 1.29 percent by 11:40GMT.

Taking their cues from Wall Street’s positive tone in the prior session, the majority of European bourses were firmer in early trade on Monday. However, political turbulence around US President Donald Trump continues, with the DXY hovering not far from last week’s six-month low and close to levels that prevailed shortly before the November 8th, 2016 US Presidential elections.

Looking at this week’s calendar, focus is on the US administration’s draft budget for the full fiscal year 2018 on Tuesday ahead of the minutes of the May 3rd FOMC meeting and the OPEC meeting on Wednesday.

Lastly, the U.S. Treasuries have been closely following developments in oil markets because of their impact on inflation expectations. The International benchmark Brent futures climbed 0.84 percent to USD54.07 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) climbed 0.89 percent to USD50.78 by 11:10 GMT.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures traded 0.23 percent higher at 2,369.00 by 11:40GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at -68.85 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex