US Treasury yields rose on Tuesday, sparked by a rally in stocks after a friendlier tone from Chinese President Xi Jinping helped ease trade tensions and following data showing a pick-up in US inflation at the producer level. The yield curve continued to flatten on Tuesday as investors priced in interest rates hikes this year. The US 5-year and US 30-year yield curve has flattened to 38.6 basis points, the narrowest gap since late December 2011.
"The speech from Xi didn't escalate trade tensions so we saw a little move higher in yields," said Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York. Risk appetite increased on Tuesday after Xi set a positive tone for easing US-Chinese trade tensions. He promised to open the country's economy further and lower import tariffs on products including cars.
Also helping boost yields was a report showing US producer prices increased more than expected in March. The producer price index for final demand rose 0.3 percent last month after increasing 0.2 percent in February. "We have (consumer price) inflation data coming tomorrow and the key focus for the market is whether there would be confirmation of a sustained path to higher inflation," said Subadra Rajappa, head of US rates strategy, at Societe Generale in New York.
In late trading, the US 10-year yields were up slightly at 2.802 percent, from 2.789 percent late on Monday. US 30-year yields rose to 3.023 percent, from Monday's 3.017 percent. On the front end of the curve, US 2-year yields edged up to 2.315 percent, compared with 2.286 percent on Monday. US 3-year yields rose to 2.444 percent, from Monday's 2.419 percent. Tuesday's auction of $30 billion in US 3-year notes was fair to average, analysts said. The note picked up a yield of 2.450 percent, slightly lower than that expected at the bid deadline.
There were $85.5 billion in bids for a 2.85 bid-to-cover ration, down slightly from last month's 2.94. "The response of the market has been relatively lackluster," said Aaron Kohli, director of interest rate strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York.
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