US bond trading slows down, and employment data is perplexing😬
With corporate issuance taking a breather today, with $55bn already priced between Monday — Wednesday, treasury volumes feel back to ~60% of normal with 2yr yields dropping back below 5% on some bargain buying. On US data, the labour picture continues to confuse, with weekly claims dropping to 216k, the lowest levels since Feburary, while Walmart announced it will be cutting starting pay for some new hires on rising cost concerns. On the other hand, the Atlanta Fed’s Wave Tracker slowed to 5.3% YoY from 5.7% last month, along with a narrowing of the job changes vs job stayers gap, showing some continued softening of the red-hot labour market.
