The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell below the key 4% level Wednesday afternoon after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said an interest rate cut wasn’t likely at the March meeting but would likely come later this year.
The benchmark yield was down nearly 13 basis points to 3.929%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury fell 13 basis points to 4.227%.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.
Bond yields took a leg down following the Fed’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged. They briefly recovered from their lows after Powell said an interest rate cut at the March meeting was unlikely, only to reverse lower again in late afternoon trading.
“I don’t think it’s likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the March meeting to identify March is the time to do that,” Powell said. “But that’s to be seen.”
Still, Powell signaled that the Fed was getting closer to rate cuts. However, he didn’t not say he was ready to declare a “soft landing” economic scenario had been achieved.
“We believe that our policy rate is likely at its peak for this tightening cycle and that if the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year,” the Fed Chair said on Wednesday afternoon.
