TREASURIES-US yields little changed ahead of heavy data slate

NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury securities held in narrow ranges and yields were mixed on Monday as players minimized activity without new tariff headlines to react to before a list of important economic reports, culminating in April payrolls data on Friday.

Trading was more muted than in recent weeks of high volatility, when U.S. President Donald Trump sent Treasuries tumbling and yields soaring amid fear that his erratic announcements on import levies made dollar-based assets less secure, and U.S. and global economic growth less assured.

"Trade policy news could dictate the direction of trading today," said Will Compernolle, macro strategist at FHN Financial, in a morning client commentary. "But the bond market should otherwise be characterized by further consolidation before the rest of the week is packed with tradeable events."

With month-end on Wednesday, along with the first read on first quarter gross domestic product and the personal consumption expenditures price index, traders look loath to take any unnecessary risk. Other labor market data is also sprinkled through the week, in the run-up to Friday's all-important employment release.

"Generally, the data isn't likely to show a full-blown collapse, but it will continue to keep investors nervous that growth is slowing," said Gennadiy Goldberg, head of U.S. rates strategy at TD Securities, New York.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note US10YT=TWEB was off 1 basis point from late Friday at 4.256%.

There have been not-entirely-convincing signs that the U.S. and China could be willing to de-escalate trade tensions.

Competing claims on the state of negotiations from Beijing and Trump highlighted the uncertainties facing investors seeking to navigate Trump's upending of world trade.

HIGH RISK OF RECESSION

The week also marks 100 days since Trump took office and began his assault on trade and confidence in America. Despite an initial rally in equities after his election in November, the S&P 500 .SPX has declined more than 4% since then, and fallen more than 10% from February's record high as markets assess the potential impact of tariffs.

A majority of economists polled by Reuters said the risk of the global economy slipping into recession this year was high. But Trump's tariff rollercoaster has made the Federal Reserve's job even harder, given prospects for inflation to rise away from its 2% target.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets next week, with futures traders betting that it will, starting in June, lower rates by 25 basis points at least four times this year from the current range of 4.25%-4.50%, where the policy rate has stood since December.

While the auction calendar is light this week, the U.S. Treasury will release its borrowing estimates for April through June and July through September later Monday and its refunding plans across maturities Wednesday morning.

The yield on the 30-year bond US30YT=TWEB eased 1.7 bp to 4.721%.

A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes US2US10=TWEB, seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at a positive 51.3 basis points.

The two-year US2YT=TWEB U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 2 basis points to 3.742%.