Bond Market’s Favorite Yield-Curve Trade Fired Up From Jobs Data

Workers on the assembly floor an airplane manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington.

Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg

Bond traders loaded up wagers on a popular strategy favoring short-end Treasuries over longer-dated debt after an unexpected uptick in November unemployment added to mixed signals clouding the outlook of the US economy.

The gap between 2- and 30-year yields widened the most in over four years on Tuesday, reflecting ongoing expectations of at least two more Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts next year against a backdrop of resilient inflation and solid economic growth.