Bonds

US Treasury yields pare slide on report Trump and Xi hope to discuss trade

Key Points
  • At 10 a.m. ET, consumer sentiment for August is scheduled to come out, along with leading economic indicators and the Advance Quarterly Services Report, that measures the performance of the U.S. service economy, for the second quarter.
  • Investor sentiment around the globe appears to be relatively upbeat on Friday, following positive trade developments between the U.S. and China.

U.S. government debt yields curbed their decline Friday on headlines that U.S. and Chinese representatives are working to develop a plan to end the ongoing trade dispute between the two nations.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that the talks would culminate in a meeting bet President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at around 2.864 percent at 2:28 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was in the red at 3.02 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Treasurys


As another week winds down, investors in the bond market will be gearing up for the final batch of economic data for this week, while keeping an eye on the political sphere.

At 10 a.m. ET, consumer sentiment for August is scheduled to come out, along with leading economic indicators and the Advance Quarterly Services Report, that measures the performance of the U.S. service economy, for the second quarter. No auctions by the U.S. Treasury are expected to take place however.

Switching focus, investor sentiment around the globe appears to be relatively upbeat on Friday, following positive trade developments between the U.S. and China.

On Thursday, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow confirmed to CNBC media reports that China and the U.S. would hold a fresh round of trade discussions later on this month. Consequently, investors have shown optimism on the back of the news, that two of the world's largest economies could potentially resolve their differences in the ongoing trade dispute.

While China has said that it welcomes dialogue between the two countries, it did however caution that it wouldn't consent to any unilateral actions concerning trade with the States. The move comes after months of rising tensions between both the economies, where each country has retaliated with counter-measures, after the other nation inflicted a new amount of levies on goods.

Concern in markets has risen as of late, as investors worry that an escalation in trade fears could trigger an economic slowdown worldwide and lower corporate profits.

A (brief) history of the world's trade wars
VIDEO0:0000:00
A (brief) history of the world's trade wars

Elsewhere, investors will be keeping a close eye on the moves in the Turkish lira, after it tumbled in recent trading sessions. Markets have been jittery of late over concerns surrounding the Turkish president's control of the economy and U.S. leader Donald Trump saying last week that he was in support of doubling metal tariffs on the country.

While no speeches by the U.S. Federal Reserve are scheduled for today, investors will be gearing up for a special central banking event next week: the Economic Symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming which will take place from next Thursday to Saturday.

This year's symposium will be on the topic of changing market structure and the implications for monetary policy going forward.