Treasury yields move lower after Fed kicks off hiking cycle

Treasury yields edged lower on Thursday, after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in three years.The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was almost 2 basis points lower at 4.988% as of 2:12 a.m. ET. The 30-year Treasury yield was down 1 basis point to 5.341%, while the yield on the 2-year note slipped nearly 3 basis points to 4.702%. One basis point equals 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.The Fed raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75%-4% on Wednesday, its first increase since July 2023. Markets had widely expected the central bank to approve a hike, after a series of hot inflation data and pressure on the bond market. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said during a press conference on Wednesday that inflation has been "too high ... for too long.""We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective clearly and at sufficient speed," he said, adding that the Federal Open Market Committee had decided "this standard has not been satisfied."Fed officials also signaled that another rate hike is likely this year. The dot-plot grid of individual officials' expectations indicated that 1...