U.S. Treasuries remain tad higher ahead of Fed’s interest rate decision; Powell’s speech to provide detailed guidance

The U.S. Treasuries climbed slightly during late afternoon session Wednesday as investors moved towards safe-haven investments amid a plethora of growing worries over a global economic slowdown ahead of the Fed’s final conclusion on interest rates this year, due late today.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasuries slipped nearly 1 basis point to 2.816 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also edged nearly 1 basis point higher to 3.070 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year remained tad lower at 2.650 percent by 11:30GMT.

All eyes today will be on the conclusion of the Fed’s latest FOMC meeting. The FOMC seems highly likely to hike the fed funds rate target range by a further 25bps to 2.25-2.50 percent, Daiwa Capital Markets reported today.

But, not least given Jerome Powell’s recent commentary and the minutes of the November meeting, the FOMC is also expected to amend its statement to suggest that future rate hikes are data-dependent rather than firmly baked in.

And it will also likely publish some more dovish dot-plots than the previous set issued in September, with the dots showing expectations for rate hikes next year likely to be clustered around the one-to-three range. Data-wise, today will bring November’s existing home sales figures, as well as balance of payments data for Q3, the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures remained 0.76 percent higher at 2,557.38 by 11:40GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at -70.28 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex