US Treasury bond auctions and Fed minutes in focus this week
Markets are watching this week's US Treasury auctions of 10- and 30-year bonds totalling over $61 billion, as long-term yields hit 24-year highs. The Federal Reserve will release minutes from its September meeting, where it raised rates for the first time in three years, after weak jobs data sharply
The United States Treasury this week will auction 10-year and 30-year bonds with a combined size of more than US$61 billion. Long-term bond yields have risen to a 24-year high, and the market will closely monitor bidding demand, according to RTHK.
The Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its September monetary policy meeting at 2:00 am Hong Kong time on Thursday. At that meeting, the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in three years. However, after the release of data on Friday showing only 29,000 non-farm payroll jobs were added in September – far below market expectations – the CME Group's FedWatch tool showed the market's expectation of a rate hike later this month had fallen sharply from more than 64 per cent to just over 22 per cent.
Several Fed officials are scheduled to speak this week. The market is expected to combine the meeting minutes and officials' remarks to seek clues on their views on inflation, employment and the future direction of interest rates, RTHK reported.
On the data front, S&P Global and the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will release the final September services purchasing managers' index (PMI) and the non-manufacturing PMI on Monday. The US will publish weekly initial jobless claims on Thursday, and the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index for October on Friday.
In corporate earnings, PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines will report their quarterly results this week.