The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note inched up to 4.23% on Monday, as investors braced for a data-heavy week expected to offer fresh insight into the strength of the US economy. Key releases on the agenda include the delayed employment report, alongside CPI and retail sales data.
Futures markets currently imply that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep interest rates unchanged in March, with the first rate cut increasingly priced in for June and another reduction viewed as possible in September.
Treasury prices also came under pressure after reports that Chinese regulators instructed financial institutions to pare back their holdings of US government debt, citing concerns about concentration risk and heightened market volatility. US Treasury holdings by China-based investors have declined to $682.6 billion, the lowest level since 2008 and down sharply from a peak of $1.32 trillion in late 2013.
