Treasuries moved moderately lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, extending the downward move seen in the previous session.
Bond prices slid into negative territory in morning trading and remained stuck in the red throughout the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.2 basis points to 1.624 percent.
The weakness among treasuries partly reflected concerns about an acceleration in the rate of inflation and potential monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve.
The Fed has attributed the increase in inflation to “transitory factors,” although analysts have suggested the central bank will still begin considering tapering its asset purchases in the coming months.
Adding to the inflation concerns, the Labor Department released a report showing the number of job openings reached a series high of 8.1 million on the last business day of March.
The data led to worries that employers will have to raise wages to entice workers, which could carry over into higher inflation.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off the results of the Treasury Department’s auction of $58 billion worth of three-year notes, which attracted average demand.
The three-year note auction drew a high yield of 0.329 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.42. The bid-to-cover ratio matched the average from the ten previous three-year note auctions.
The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold.
Looking ahead, the Treasury is due to announce the results of its auction of $41 billion worth of ten-year notes on Wednesday.
In light of the concerns about inflation, trading on Wednesday may also be impacted by reaction to a report on consumer prices in the month of April.
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