Treasury yields ignore US data, drop on IMF’s growth forecast

Treasury prices advanced on Tuesday, pushing the yields moderately lower as IMF’s downward revision of global and US growth forecasts overshadowed strong US housing data.

The 10-yr yield hit a low of 1.537% before recovering to 1.549% in Asian session. Meanwhile, the two-year yield which mimics short-term rate hike bets, managed to etch out gains and move to 0.702% before trimming gains slightly to trade around 0.69% in Asian session.

US housing starts and building permits bettered estimates, but treasury yields dropped as IMF cut its forecast for global economic growth by 0.1% to 3.1% for 2016. US growth forecast was revised by 0.2% to 2.5% in 2016.

Meanwhile, Netflix and Goldman Sachs shares dragged US equities lower which further added to the bearish pressure around yields.