Treasury yields rise as investors await comments from Fed Chair Powell

U.S. Treasury yields climbed on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress and assessed the economic outlook.

At 4:10 a.m. ET, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was up by around two basis points to 3.7479%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury was trading more than two basis points higher at 4.7238%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point equals 0.01%.

A series of Fed officials are due to make remarks on Wednesday, including Powell, who is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee at 10:00 a.m. ET. Investors will be looking to their comments for more clarity about their expectations for monetary policy and the economy.

That comes after policymakers decided to pause their rate-hiking campaign, which had been ongoing since March 2022, at their meeting last week — but not without noting that further rate hikes are likely. Two more increases of 25 basis points each are expected this year, according to the central bankers.

Investors also considered what could be next for the wider U.S. economy, digesting Tuesday’s housing starts and building permits figures for May, which both came in above previous forecasts.

No key data is expected Wednesday. Elsewhere, U.K. inflation figures came in higher than expected at 8.7% for May. The Bank of England’s next interest rate decision is expected on Thursday.

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