Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., Dec. 10, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield moved lower on Thursday as investors digested delayed inflation data that showed cooling price pressures.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell more than 3 basis points to 4.118%. The 2-year Treasury yield declined by more than 2 basis points to 3.46%. The 30-year Treasury bond yield slid more than 2 basis points to 4.80%.
One basis point equals 0.01%, and yields move inversely to prices.
The consumer price index rose at a 2.7% annualized rate last month, a delayed report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected CPI to have risen 3.1%.
Core CPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was also cooler than anticipated, increasing 2.6% over 12 months. It was expected to have increased by 3%.
“Net, net, the market can hardly believe their eyes, where if the latest data from Washington are true, core inflation pressures have vanished virtually despite the ramping up of import tariffs this year to astronomical levels,” said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS.
Because the October CPI release was canceled, Thursday’s report lacked several of the standard data points typically included in a CPI report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said it could not go back and collect October survey data, though it relied on “nonsurvey data sources” to construct the index. As a result, economists may be cautious about interpreting the report as clear evidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path, given the absence of an October comparison.
“It’s just one month of data, and distortions can’t be ruled out, but the sharp drop in annual inflation leaves the Fed with little excuse not to respond to rising unemployment,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
As for the labor market, new data showed initial jobless claims fall to 224,000 for the week of Dec. 13, down from the previous week when initial claims were 237,000.
Traders also kept an eye on Washington as the Trump administration continued its search for Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s successor. President Donald Trump on Thursday made positive remarks about Fed Governor Christopher Waller, one of the prospects for the central bank’s chairmanship.
“I think he’s great. I mean, he’s been a man who has been there a long time, somebody that I was very involved with. … And he’s a fantastic man. I met him yesterday again.”
