The 10-year Treasury yield ticked up slightly on Tuesday. Investors are looking ahead to important economic data releases this week. The uptick in yields reflects weakening investor confidence in U.S. assets.
This follows a sell-off sparked by President Donald Trump’s announcement of high tariffs on imported goods on April 2. “Evolving market perceptions of the trajectory of the U.S. economy and policymaking are taking the global economy and markets to unprecedented levels of uncertainty,” Morgan Stanley noted in a recent report. Investors are closely monitoring trade developments between the U.S. and China.
On Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized China’s need to de-escalate trade tensions. “It is up to China to de-escalate because they sell five times more to us than we sell to them, and so these 120%, 145% tariffs are unsustainable,” Bessent said in an interview. This week, the markets will analyze several economic reports to gauge the health of the U.S. economy.
Investor focus on key economic data
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for March is expected later today. Economists anticipate the number of available job postings decreased to 7.5 million in March from 7.6 million in February.
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence reading for April is scheduled for release on Tuesday. On Wednesday, important data including first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and March figures for personal income and consumer spending will be made available. ADP’s employment report for April is also expected.
On Thursday, April’s Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing survey will be released. This will be followed by the Labor Department’s nonfarm payrolls data for April on Friday morning. Investors and analysts will be closely watching these reports.
They want to gauge the state of the U.S. economy and inform their market strategies in the weeks ahead.
Image Credits: Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash
