U.S. Treasury yields rose slightly on Tuesday after the Labor Department’s CPI report showed inflation continued to rise in June, accelerating at its fastest pace in nearly 13 years.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 2 basis points to 1.38% at around 8:30 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 2 basis points to 1.993%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point equals 0.01 percentage points.
June’s consumer price index rose 5.4% from a year ago, the largest jump since just before the financial crisis, the Labor Department reported. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected an increase of 5% year-on-year, matching the May level, which was the highest since August 2008.
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 4.5%, the sharpest move for that measure since September 1991 and well above the estimate of 3.8%.
CPI is one inflation indicator, though it factors less into the Federal Reserve’s decision-making than the personal consumption expenditures price index.
A Fed report released Friday, that Chairman Jerome Powell will present to Congress this week, reiterated the central bank’s position that the current inflationary pressures are “transitory.”
Salman Ahmed, global head of macro and strategic asset allocation at Fidelity International, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday that there have been “quite significant shifts in narratives so far this year, both from the Fed and from the markets,” in terms of monetary policy.
However, Ahmed said it was now key to see if the data actually proves the Fed is correct in its outlook that higher inflation is temporary, or if there are “some persistent forces in play which are likely to remain with us for the next several months and start to shape actual policy.”
Auctions are due to be held on Tuesday for $34 billion of 52-week bills, $35 billion of 42-day bills and $24 billion of 30-year bonds.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this market report.
