The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield topped 1.77% on Tuesday, as coronavirus vaccine rollouts and planned infrastructure spending boosted hopes of a broad economic recovery, but added to inflation fears.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped to 1.772% at 4:40 a.m. ET, a 14-month high. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose to 2.456%. Yields move inversely to prices.
The move comes a day ahead of President Joe Biden revealing details of his infrastructure plan. The recovery package will include up to $3 trillion in spending across a swathe of sectors in an effort to bolster the U.S. economy.
Meanwhile, the pace of Covid-19 vaccinations in the U.S. is rising, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting that over 3 million doses had been administered for three straight days, as of Sunday. However, coronavirus cases are also rising, with more than 63,000 new daily infections reported in the U.S., based on a seven-day average of Johns Hopkins University data.
The move higher in yields comes amid increasing talk of inflation, as the U.S. economy starts to bounce back. There were already concerns that the $1.9 trillion stimulus spending package signed earlier this month could stoke rising prices amid the economic recovery from the pandemic.
Unigestion Investment Manager Olivier Marciot said in a note Tuesday that he believes there is a “risk that inflation pressures will be less transitory than expected, increasing the odds of the Fed sitting ‘behind the curve’ and later being forced to change course more rapidly than projected.”
On the data front, January’s S&P/Case-Shiller home price index is set to come out at 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles is due to make a speech about the Financial Stability Board at the Peterson Institute for international economics discussion at 9 a.m. ET.
An auction is set to be held Tuesday for $40 billion of 42-day bills.
— CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.
