(Updates with market activity, analyst comment, auction results) By Karen Pierog and Ross Kerber CHICAGO/BOSTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Traders looking for stronger indications of the economy's path through the COVID-19 pandemic sent U.S. Treasury yields lower on Tuesday. The benchmark 10-year yield was last down 4.4 basis points at 0.6098%. "The market's just erasing some of yesterday's underperformance," said Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York, referring to Monday's trading session when yields were higher as investors sold bonds. He added that the market seems range-bound despite the surge of supply heading its way as the U.S. government finances costly stimulus measures. "We go up a few days, we go down. We steepen. We flatten. But net net it's kind of been just hovering around these levels even with increased supply and the (Federal Reserve) tapering purchases," Lederer said. Relatively strong demand for 7-year notes at a midday auction sent a similar message, he said. The U.S. central bank is slowly reducing its purchases of Treasuries to an average of $15 billion per day last week from a peak of $75 billion per day from March 19 to April 1. The Fed on Tuesday begins its two-day policy meeting with little ability to judge where an economy battered by the coronavirus outbreak is headed. The central bank could begin to clarify how long it intends to leave rates near zero and could offer a glimpse of how the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee feels the economy will evolve. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was last down 2.1 basis points at 0.2092%. April 28 Tuesday 3:06PM New York / 1906 GMT Price US T BONDS JUN0 181-28/32 1-10/32 10YR TNotes JUN0 139-4/256 0-92/256 Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 0.105 0.1068 -0.020 Six-month bills 0.1375 0.1395 -0.020 Two-year note 99-213/256 0.2092 -0.021 Three-year note 99-244/256 0.2659 -0.024 Five-year note 100-10/256 0.3671 -0.040 Seven-year note 100-188/256 0.5168 -0.041 10-year note 108-116/256 0.6098 -0.044 30-year bond 119-216/256 1.2053 -0.044 DOLLAR SWAP SPREADS Last (bps) Net Change (bps) U.S. 2-year dollar swap 14.00 -1.00 spread U.S. 3-year dollar swap 8.25 -0.25 spread U.S. 5-year dollar swap 5.50 -0.50 spread U.S. 10-year dollar swap 0.50 -1.00 spread U.S. 30-year dollar swap -44.00 -0.50 spread (Reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago and by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Sandra Maler and Jonathan Oatis)
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