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10-Year Treasury Yield Dips After Fed Chair Powell's Remarks

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The 10-year Treasury yield dipped Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's latest remarks on future monetary policy moves by the ye U.S. central bank.

The benchmark rate was down nearly 12 basis points at 3.633% after trading above 3.8% earlier in the session. The 2-year rate was down 13 basis points on the day at 4.343%. Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point is equal to 0.01%.

"It makes sense to moderate the pace of our rate increases as we approach the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down," Powell said in a speech at the Brookings Institution. "The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting."

Traders had been pricing in a 50 basis-point rate hike for December after four straight increases of 75 basis points. The Fed has been tightening monetary policy all year in an effort to quell strong inflationary pressures battering the country.

However, the Fed's effectiveness in driving down inflation is not completely clear yet.

The Labor Department said Wednesday that job openings for October came in at 10.33 million, slightly less than a 10.4 million FactSet estimate.

Meanwhile, a revision to the gross domestic product reading from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed the economy was stronger than previously thought. Third-quarter GDP increased at a 2.9% annual rate, higher than the 2.6% figure reported in the first estimate

That came shortly after both retreated on the back of data from processing firm ADP showing private hiring fell sharply in November and came in below expectations. The data could indicate a tightening economy, which would give optimism for investors who are looking for the Fed to slow or pivot on interest rate hikes.

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