U.S. Treasury bond yields rose moderately on Wednesday, with 10-year bond yields reaching their highest level since December 2019. The increase in yields is associated with increased expectations of a Fed rate hike in the near future.
The yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose by 2.2 basis points, reaching 1.89%, while the yield on 30-year bonds was 2.201% (+1.5 basis points). Meanwhile, the yield on 2-year Treasury bonds, reflecting expectations of short-term interest rates, also rose by 2.3 basis points to 1.063%.
The BlackRock Investment Institute said that the rise in yields for 10-year bonds suggests that investors are less willing to pay a safety premium for bonds and isn't bad news for stocks per se.
As for the US data, today at 13:30 GMT the report on the number of building permits and housing starts for December will be released. Building permits are expected to have dropped to 1.701 million from 1.712 million in November, while housing starts fell to 1.65 million from 1.679 million.
Also today, an auction for the sale of 20-year bonds worth $ 20 billion will be held.