U.S. Treasuries flat ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s second testimony, Q4 2018 GDP data

The U.S. Treasuries remained nearly flat during late European session Wednesday ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s scheduled second testimony on the economic outlook and recent monetary policy actions before the Joint Economic Committee, in Washington DC, due today at 15:00GMT.

Also, the country’s Q4 2018 gross domestic product (GDP), scheduled for release on February 28 by 13:30GMT will be closely eyed for further direction in the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield remained flat at 2.636 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields traded tad higher at 3.016 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year too remained steady at 2.484 percent by 11:15GMT.

In the US, Fed Chair Powell will repeat his semi-annual testimony on monetary policy before the House Financial Services Committee. Data-wise, the advance goods trade report for December is due along with factory orders figures for the same month and pending home sales for January.

The trade report is expected to see a widening of the goods deficit, with exports weighed notably by soft global demand, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures edged 0.23 percent lower to 2,785.12 by 11:20GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained highly bearish at -103.89 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex