The Federal Reserve building pictured in Washington, U.S., July 16, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis
August 21, 2018
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bond investors remained cautious on longer-dated U.S. government debt on Monday before the Wednesday release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes on its July 31-Aug. 1 policy meeting, a J.P. Morgan survey showed on Tuesday.
The Federal Open Market Committee, the U.S. central bank’s policy-setting group, left key overnight borrowing costs unchanged at that meeting. It signaled it was on track to raise rates at its September policy meeting as economic expansion continues.
The Fed will release the minutes at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Wednesday.
The share of investors who told J.P. Morgan they were neutral, or holding longer-dated bonds matching their benchmarks, was 57 percent, matching last week’s level, according to the bank’s latest Treasury client survey.
The survey was released after U.S. President Donald Trump told Reuters on Monday he was “not thrilled” with the Fed for hiking interest rates and said it should do more to help him boost the economy.
President Trump on U.S. interest rates: https://reut.rs/2nTC2Jl
The share of investors who said they were short, or holding fewer longer-dated U.S. government debt than their portfolio benchmarks, held at 30 percent for a second week.
The share of investors who said they were long, or holding more longer-dated Treasuries than their benchmarks, stayed at 13 percent, unchanged from a week ago.
Early on Tuesday, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was 2 basis points higher at 2.844 percent.
Investors positions in longer-dated US Treasuries: https://tmsnrt.rs/2OikPnI
(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Susan Thomas)
