NEW YORK- US Treasury yields dropped on Friday after China countered against US President Donald Trump’s outsized import tariffs plan, although the declines eased somewhat after a solid US jobs report.
Yields tumbled as China announced additional tariffs of 34 percent on US goods on Friday, the most serious escalation in a trade war with Trump that has fueled global recession fears and led to the steepest stock market drop in several years, prompting a flight to safe-haven assets by investors.
But yields pared some declines after the Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls increased by 228,000 jobs last month, well above the forecast for a gain of 135,000, after a downwardly revised rise of 117,000 in February, while the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.
“There’s not a lot to dislike about the employment report,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
“The Fed doesn’t meet for another month, but when it does it can comfortably cut if tariffs are still in place at that time, but it won’t likely feel a sense of urgency to.”
