Wall Street inched lower before the bell on today while Treasury yields touched one-month highs, the Associated Press reports, as worries grew about the possibility that the Federal Reserve might not start cutting interest until later in the year. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average each fell more than 0.1% before markets opened.
In an interview recorded Thursday for the CBS news program 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday night, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the central bank remains on track to cut interest rates three times this year, but probably not beginning until May.
Yields on the two-year Treasury rose to 4.44% early today from 4.37% late Friday. Yields on the 10-year also climbed to 4.09% this morning from 4.02% late Friday.
In equities trading early today, McDonald’s shares dipped less than 1%, even after the company beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter sales and profit targets.
Boeing slid again after the aerospace giant said improperly drilled holes in some of its 737 fuselages could delay deliveries of about 50 aircraft.
In other trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 19 cents to $72.09 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 4 cents to $77.29 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar rose to 148.59 Japanese yen from 148.40 yen.
