TREASURIES-Yields little changed after data with tariffs on deck

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Private payrolls exceed expectations, ADP report shows

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Factory orders rise slightly, likely due to pre-tariff rush

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Trump's tariff plans raise concerns of economic slowdown

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Wednesday, with the short-end slightly higher while longer-dated yields edged lower on labor market and manufacturing data, as investors awaited the Trump administration's tariff announcement.

Private payrolls increased by 155,000 jobs last month, above the 115,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, after an upwardly revised 84,000 rise in February, the ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday.

The data came ahead of Friday's key government payrolls report, although the ADP number is usually not predictive of the Labor Department's report.

The Commerce Department reported that factory orders rose 0.6%, just above the 0.5% estimate, after an upwardly revised 1.8% rebound in January, likely due to front-loaded orders by businesses ahead of tariffs.

U.S. President Donald Trump has kept the world guessing on the details of his tariff plans, which were still being formulated ahead of a White House Rose Garden announcement ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2000 GMT).

"Investors at the front end of the curve have kind of run out of room, given where inflation is and how much people think the Fed will cut, but fear is continuing to rise and that there will be problems for the economy in the long run," said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist and head of global bonds at PGIM Fixed Income in Newark, New Jersey.

"That fear factor is flowing into the parts of the curve that are not limited by a constrained Fed and that's going all the way out to the bond, which is a serious sign of concern."

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield rose 0.5 basis points to 4.161% after hitting a fresh one-month low of 4.11% earlier in the session.

Appetite for safe-haven assets such as U.S. Treasuries and gold has risen in recent weeks while riskier assets such as stocks have struggled over concerns Trump's tariffs will spark a global economic slowdown while potentially stoking inflation again.

The 30-year bond yield shed 0.1 basis point to 4.514% after dropping to 4.66%, its lowest since March 4.

A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between two- and 10-year Treasury notes , seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at a positive 27.2 basis points.

The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 2.4 basis points to 3.887%.

Markets are pricing in about 71 basis points of interest rate cuts by the end of the year, LSEG data showed, although comments by some Federal Reserve officials have suggested the Fed will be deliberate in adjusting rates lower.

On Tuesday, Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee said while the "hard" data show the underlying U.S. economy is solid, the labor market strong, and inflation down from its peak in 2022, a broad new set of tariffs under Trump could lead to renewed inflation or an economic slowdown.

The breakeven rate on five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was last at 2.593% after closing at 2.586% on April 1.

The 10-year TIPS breakeven rate was last at 2.336%, indicating the market sees inflation averaging about 2.3% a year for the next decade.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Richard Chang)