Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Feb. 13, 2025.
Treasury yields advanced Friday as investors digested a February nonfarm payrolls report that showed weaker-than-expected jobs growth and the latest commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed about 2 basis points to 4.303%. The 2-year Treasury yield rose more than 2 basis points at 3.987%.
One basis point is equal to 0.01% and yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 151,000 on the month, better than the downwardly revised 125,000 in January but less than the 170,000 consensus forecast from Dow Jones, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.1%.
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"Friday's jobs report may change the calculus for the Federal Reserve's plans on interest rates this year, and it's possible that we see the next rate cut come as soon as June," said Glen Smith, chief investment officer at GDS Wealth Management.
Later in the day, Powell said the central bank sought "greater clarity" before making its next move on interest rates.
Traders are also mulling U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff reprieve. Goods imported from Canada and Mexico into the U.S., and which comply with the North American trade agreement known as the USMCA, will be temporarily excluded from 25% tariffs, a White House official said on Thursday. The reprieve will last until April 2.
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"Markets are all over the place trying to price tariff impacts, which is really hard to do when the goal post moves, disappears, and morphs by the second," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris Financial Group.
