U.S. Treasuries plunge ahead of April JOLTs job openings data, short-term 3-year auction

The U.S. Treasuries plunged during Monday’s afternoon session, ahead of the country’s JOLTS job openings data for the month of April, scheduled to be released today by 14:00GMT, amid an otherwise silent trading day that witnessed data of little economic significance.

Also, last week Friday’s weak US payrolls report fuelled market expectations that an easing in Fed policy is on the cards sooner than anticipated, with fed funds futures pricing in a probability of more than 80 percent of a 25bps rate cut at July’s FOMC meeting.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumped over 5-1/2 basis points to 2.140 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields surged 5 basis points to 2.622 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded 4-1/2 basis points higher at 1.896 percent by 11:15GMT.

Ahead of the forthcoming FOMC meeting on June 20, this week will bring a number of key economic releases, including May figures for CPI (Wednesday), retail sales and IP (Friday). Against the backdrop of weaker energy inflation, the annual rate of headline CPI is expected to have edged back below 2 percent y/y, while core inflation is likely to have moved sideways at 2.1 percent y/y, Daiwa Capital Markets reported.

Further, a stronger showing from retail sales is expected, while manufacturing output is anticipated to have posted the first increase for five months. Sentiment surveys will also be closely watched, including the NFIB small business optimism indicator (tomorrow) and the preliminary University of Michigan consumer confidence index (Friday), the report added

In the markets, the Treasury will sell short-term 3-year notes tomorrow, long-term 10-year notes on Wednesday and super-long 30-year bonds on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures traded tad 0.44 percent higher at 2,887.62 by 11:20GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at -14.96 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex