Treasury yields rose Wednesday, with the 10-year yield touching almost 4.12% as investors focused on stronger-0than-expected December retail sales and the latest remarks from Federal Reserve members.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was recently up 4 basis points at 4.108% after briefly getting to 4.117%, the highest since Dec. 13. The 2-year Treasury yield rose by around 11 basis points to trade at 4.335%.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01%.
December’s retail sales data indicated strong consumer demand at the holidays. Retail sales increased 0.6% for the month, above economists’ estimates of 0.4%, as compiled by Dow Jones. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.4%, which also topped a 0.2% estimate.
On Tuesday, yields jumped after comments from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who suggested that while the central bank will likely cut rates this year, it may take its time.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, more European Central Bank members indicated that markets were getting ahead of themselves on rate cut projections.
The president of the Dutch central bank, Klaas Knot, told CNBC Wednesday that the euro zone’s central bank looked at overall financial conditions, and that “the more easing the market has already done for us, the less likely we will cut rates.” Knot was referring to the fact that higher stock and bond prices in the fourth quarter of last year acted as the equivalent of easier interest rate policy, while lower prices act as the equivalent of tighter policy.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
