Treasury yields fall, continue retreat from last week’s spike
U.S. Treasury yields fell on Tuesday morning, with investors expected to be watching for comments on the economy in key speeches later in the day.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.419% shortly after 10:00 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond climbed to 2.206%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Bonds prices were boosted by comments from Guo Shuqing, chair of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, who warned about high asset prices in developed countries, including the United States.
“We got an ‘irrational exuberance’ like utterance out of not a current Federal Reserve member or a developed world central banker but from Guo Shuqing … He’s not talking about China though, he’s talking about us,” Bleakley Advisory Group’s Peter Boockvar said in a note.
Treasury yields ebbed lower on Monday, with the 10-year falling back from last week’s highs, when it topped 1.6%.
Investors on Tuesday will be keeping a close watch on comments made by both Securities and Exchange Commission Chair nominee Gary Gensler and Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard.
Gensler will testify before the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m. ET.
Brainard will then deliver a speech entitled “U.S. Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy” via a virtual meeting hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations, at 1 p.m. ET.
March data from the IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism index is due out at 10 a.m. ET.
An auction will be held Tuesday for $30 billion of 42-day bills.
— CNBC’s Thomas Franck contributed to this report.