Treasury yields are lower as traders set eyes on Fed meeting

U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Tuesday as investors looked to economic data from the labor market and the Federal Reserve's July meeting.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by about three basis points to 4.142%. The 2-year Treasury was last at 4.35% after losing more than three basis points.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.

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The Fed's July meeting begins Tuesday and concludes Wednesday with a monetary policy announcement and press conference by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Markets are widely expecting interest rates to be left unchanged by the central bank this week, but many investors are hoping policymakers will give fresh hints about the outlook for rates. That includes the timing and quantity of rate reductions this year. Traders were last pricing in a 100% chance of a cut at the Fed's next meeting in December, CME Group's FedWatch Tool showed.

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The Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey released Tuesday reflected a decrease in job openings in June, while the hiring rate hit its highest level, excluding Covid-impacted data, in nearly 11 years. Available jobs totaled 8.18 million for the month, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 8.1 million.

Consumer confidence beat expectations, according to data from the Conference Board's consumer confidence index also released on Tuesday. The index rose to 100.3 this month from 97.8 in June, even as consumers remain concerned about higher prices and interest rates.