US treasury yields drop on weak data

Treasury prices in the US rose, pushing yields lower after a sharp drop in industrial production indicated pain in the manufacturing sector is far from over.

At the time of writing, 10-yr yield was down 2.4 basis points (bps) at 1.759%. The 30-yr yield was down 4 bps as well at 2.555%. The short duration 2-yr yield, which mimics rate hike bets, was down 1 bps at 0.75%.

The industrial production plunged 0.6% m/m in March, against market expectation of 0.1% m/m fall. Earlier this week, core CPI and retail sales also registered a disappointing performance in March. The only plus point was a sharp drop in the initial jobless claims to lowest level since 1973.

Overall, markets are unlikely to speculate about June rate hike unless there is a significant improvement in the data release in next couple of weeks.