US Treasury yields tick higher ahead of Fed minutes

At around 3:29 p.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, was higher at around 2.43%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also up at around 2.845%.

Market participants are likely to closely monitor speeches from policymakers at the U.S. central bank. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren are both set to comment on the world’s largest economy at separate events on Tuesday.

The speeches come after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Monday that rising levels of corporate debt did not pose an immediate threat to the financial system.

“Business debt does not present the kind of elevated risks to the stability of the financial system that would lead to broad harm to households and businesses should conditions deteriorate,” Powell said in prepared remarks. “At the same time, the level of debt certainly could stress borrowers if the economy weakens.”

Minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting are set for release Wednesday.

The central bank said earlier this month that it would keep interest rates unchanged, though Powell added in a press conference that officials saw a decline in inflation in the first quarter as temporary.

“We think our policy stance is appropriate at the moment and we don’t see a strong case for moving in either direction,” Powell said on May 1. “We say in our statement of longer-run goals and monetary policy strategy that the Committee would be concerned if inflation were running persistently above or below 2%.”