Treasury yields edge lower as investors turn cautious over earnings, tariffs

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, was lower at around 2.496 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also lower at 2.9071 percent.

Investors are grappling with the intensified trade tensions between the U.S. and the European Union after a World Trade Organization ruling over subsidies for Airbus. The WTO ruled last year that the subsidies caused “adverse effects to the U.S.” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday proposed a list of European Union products on which to slap tariffs as retaliation for European aircraft subsidies.

Treasury yields ticked higher on Monday after the U.S. government said new orders for domestic goods fell in February, suggesting a softening in the manufacturing sector. Concerns about U.S. earnings have dragged on equities in recent sessions, pushing investors toward fixed-income assets. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo are both poised to report their latest figures on Friday.

First-quarter earnings season kicks off this week with J.P. Morgan Chase on Friday.

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Randal Quarles will speak at the George Mason University “Meet the Policymakers” Forum and Vice Chairman Richard Clarida is speaking at the Minneapolis Fed’s Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute Spring Conference.

Meanwhile, oil prices scaled new 2019 highs on Monday, with the international benchmark Brent crude futures contract adding 1.1 percent to settle at $71.10 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also rose 2.1 percent to settle at $64.40 per barrel.

The U.S. Treasury auctioned $38 billion in three-year notes on Tuesday.

—CNBC’s Yun Li, Sam Meredith and Spriha Srivastava contributed to this article.