10-year Treasury yield tops 4.10% as Fed’s Bostic says he’s OK with pausing rate cuts

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose Thursday as investors studied fresh inflation and jobless claims data, and commentary from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic that suggested his openness to a cutting pause.

The 10-year Treasury yield was nearly 5 basis points higher at 4.114%, while the 2-year Treasury was flat at 4.02%.

Yields move inversely to prices. One basis point equals 0.01%.

The yield on the 10-year topped 4.10% as Bostic told the Wall Street Journal that he would be open to holding interest rates steady at the November meeting if the data warrants it.

The news followed a slightly hotter-than-expected inflation report. The consumer price index increased 0.2% in September and 2.4% year-over-year, above economists’ estimates of a 0.1% increase on a monthly basis, and a 2.3% advance over the prior 12 months, based on a Dow Jones survey.

Jobless claims also made an unexpected advance. Initial filings for unemployment benefits rose to 258,000 for the week ending Oct. 5, the highest since August 2023.

Yields had risen Wednesday as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting in September, when the central bank lowered benchmark borrowing costs to a range of 4.75% to 5.0%, pointed to some division over the size of the rate cut.

“The Fed has shown that they’re willing to let inflation potentially run hotter than normal in favor of full employment,” said Skyler Weinand, chief investment officer at Regan Capital. “Only a rise towards 4% inflation or a few hot inflation prints in a row would alter the Fed’s course of continued rate cuts over the next year.”