U.S. Treasury yields regained some lost ground on Wednesday after the House of Representatives advanced President Donald Trump's tax-cut agenda, while the dollar and oil prices struggled on mounting worries over the U.S. growth outlook.
U.S. copper prices surged more than 4% while those elsewhere fell overnight after Trump on Tuesday ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on copper imports.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives late on Tuesday narrowly passed Trump's $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan, sending the budget resolution to the Senate, where Republicans are expected to take it up.
U.S. Treasury yields advanced on the news as investors anticipate more debt issuance ahead, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising roughly 3 basis points to 4.3271%.
The two-year yield rose 2.7 bps to 4.1229%.
"(The plan) moved through just a little bit quicker than people were expecting," said Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG. "You can see the way that yields are moving, it certainly caught them off guard a little bit."
Yields had fallen to their lowest in months in the previous session as traders ramped up bets of more Federal Reserve rate cuts this year, on growing concerns over the outlook for the world's largest economy. [US/]
Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer confidence deteriorated at its sharpest pace in 3-1/2 years in February - the latest in a string of surveys suggesting that businesses and consumers were becoming increasingly rattled by the Trump administration's policies.
"We're not surprised that we're getting these weak consumer confidence numbers. What we are surprised about, though, is that we're getting them now, before consumers see the impact of tariffs," said Joseph Capurso, head of international and sustainable economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Fed funds futures now point to nearly 60 basis points worth of easing priced in by year-end, up from about 40 bps a week ago.
That in turn weighed on the dollar, particularly against the yen. The greenback slid to an over four-month low against the Japanese currency in the previous session.
It last traded 0.25% higher at 149.38 yen, thanks to the rebound in U.S. Treasury yields.
In other currencies, the euro eased 0.11% to $1.0502, but was still hovering near a one-month high. Sterling was similarly within striking distance from a two-month top and last bought $1.2651.
"What we're seeing is the dollar weakens because of this soft economic data, but at some point, you hit a threshold where you get safe-haven flows into the U.S. dollar," said CBA's Capurso. "So if things get really, really bad in America, let's say the market starts pricing in a recession or something close to a recession, the U.S. dollar always goes up.
Source: Investing.com
