Equities mixed, Treasury yields gain ground; Powell and inflation in focus

MSCI'S global equities gauge was barely up in choppy trading on Monday while U.S. Treasury yields dipped as investors awaited testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, key inflation data and the corporate earnings season kick-off.

In foreign exchange markets, the euro gave back some of its gains after earlier hitting a multi-week high against the dollar following France's election surprise.

Investors were waiting to listen to Powell's comments in Congress on both Tuesday and Wednesday for more clarity on the prospects for interest rate cuts by the U.S. central bank.

They were also waiting for the closely monitored U.S. consumer price report, which is due on Thursday. June's inflation rate is expected to slow to 3.1% year-over-year, from 3.3% in May, and the core measure is estimated by economists to stay steady at 3.4%.

The week will end with the kick-off of the second-quarter earnings season with reports from major U.S. banks Citigroup C, JP Morgan JPM and Well Fargo WFC on Friday.

"Investors are positioning as they expect a continuation of this rally for the rest of the year," said Bruce Zaro, managing director at Granite Wealth Management in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Investors are also looking for "a continuation of Powell's recent dovish comments" when he speaks to Congress, Zaro said.

Traders have increased their bets that the Fed will first cut rates in September, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool, which shows a 73.6% probability for a September cut, up from 72.2% on Friday and 59.8% a week ago.

On Wall Street, indexes were a mixed bag. At 2:56 p.m. (1856 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI was down 41.30 points, or 0.10%, at 39,334.57, the S&P 500 SPX gained 2.80 points, or 0.05%, to 5,570.00 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC gained 39.76 points, or 0.21%, to 18,392.52.

On Friday the S&P had notched its third record close in a row. An advance of the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Monday would mark its fifth straight record close.

After four closing record's in a row, MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe EURONEXT:IACWI rose 0.02 points to 817.61. In Europe, the STOXX 600 SXXP index earlier closed down 0.03%.

On the currencies side, the euro eased slightly against the dollar after earlier touching its highest level since June 12. In France, a leftist alliance unexpectedly took the top spot in Sunday's parliamentary runoff election, delivering a setback to Marine Le Pen's nationalist, euroskeptic National Rally party.

The weaker-than-expected showing for the far right was something of a relief for investors, though they have concerns the left's plans could unwind many of President Emmanuel Macron's pro-market reforms.

The dollar index DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, gained 0.05% at 105.00.

The euro EURUSD was down 0.11% at $1.0824. And against the Japanese yen USDJPY, the dollar strengthened 0.06% to 160.81.

In Treasuries, U.S. 10-year yields ticked higher after falling in the last three sessions with a focus on Powell's appearance before Congress and inflation data later in the week.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10Y was flat at 4.273%, from 4.273% late on Friday while the 30-year bond (US30YT=RR) yield fell 0.6 basis points to 4.4628%.

The 2-year note (US2YT=RR) yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 2.1 basis points to 4.6202%, from 4.599% late on Friday.

In commodity markets, oil futures settled lower as Hurricane Beryl shut U.S. refineries and ports along the Gulf of Mexico and as hopes for a ceasefire deal in Gaza appeared to reduce worries about global crude supply disruptions.

U.S. crude CL1! settled down 1%, or 83 cents, at $82.33 a barrel and Brent BRN1! finished at $85.75 per barrel, down 0.9% or 79 cents on the day.

In precious metals, gold prices slipped as investors booked profits after Friday's soft U.S. jobs data pushed prices to a more than one-month high on hopes the Fed would begin cutting interest rates in September.

Spot gold GOLD lost 1.48% to $2,356.28 an ounce. U.S. gold futures (GCc1) fell 1.49% to $2,352.90 an ounce.