U.S. Treasury yields dipped Tuesday after the long holiday weekend as investors assessed the omicron threat.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note had dipped by almost a basis point to 1.472% at 4 a.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond ticked down around half a basis point to 1.88%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
Bond markets were closed on Friday, Dec. 24 for the Christmas holiday but reopened on Monday. Investors have been encouraged by some positive news on the omicron Covid variant.
A study from South Africa, published last week, indicated that people infected with the omicron coronavirus variant were 80% less likely to be admitted to hospital than if they contracted other strains. Studies from Scotland and England appear to back up the South Africa findings.
U.S. infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Sunday that Covid-19 cases are likely to keep surging as the omicron variant rapidly spreads across the globe.
“Every day it goes up and up. The last weekly average was about 150,000 and it likely will go much higher,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week.”
The United States has reported more than 52 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Driving the surge is the omicron variant, which took over as the dominant strain earlier this month.
A slew of economic data on Thursday last week showed a stable economy with improving labor and spending trends, but inflation remains high.
Data releases on Tuesday include the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index for October, the Richmond Fed survey for December and the Dallas Fed services activity data for this month.
—CNBC’s Matt Clinch and Jessica Bursztynsky contributed to this article.
