U.S. Treasury yields continued to slide on Friday as investors awaited housing data.
At 4:05 a.m. ET, the 10-year Treasury fell more than one basis point to 4.6006%. The 2-year Treasury yield fell more than one basis point to 4.2297%.
One basis point is equal to 0.01% and yields and prices have an inverted relationship.
Treasurys
Investors are anticipating further economic data on Friday, including December’s housing starts data, which will show the number of new residential construction projects. They will also await building permit data for December, expected to be published at the same time.
Treasury yields plummeted on Wednesday, with the 10-year yield sliding 13 basis points, and the 2-year yield dropping 10 basis points.
That was after December’s consumer price index was published, and the core inflation rate slowed to 3.2% on an annual basis, lower than the 3.3% forecast by economists polled by Dow Jones. Core inflation, excluding volatile food and energy prices, grew 0.2% on a monthly basis, which was also lower than expected.
Headline inflation was up 0.4% on a monthly basis and 2.9% on an annual basis.
After the release of this data, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC on Thursday that the central bank may lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation continues to ease.
“As long as the data comes in good on inflation or continues on that path, then I can certainly see rate cuts happening sooner than maybe the markets are pricing in,” Waller said on “Squawk on the Street” in an interview with Sara Eisen.