MTS Help Center

U.S. 10 government bond yields rose for a second straight day on Tuesday, building on Friday's climb in the wake of the government's jobs report and ahead of this week's host of scheduled Treasury auctions.

Investors await a flurry of supply this week, with auctions for the 10-year note and 30-year bond on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, totaling $62 billion.

Auctions of $56 billion in 3-month bills and $53 billion in 6-month bills were well bid, according to analysts, although the 8-week auction on Thursday is more likely to reflect the risk the market sees surrounding the possible expiration of the U.S. debt ceiling.

A $58 billion sale of 3-year notes was also solid, said market participants. The 3-year yield was up 2.2 basis points at 0.429%

The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was up 4.8 basis points at 1.370% after touching 1.385% shortly after the three-month and six-month auctions, its highest since July 14.

Congressional debate is expected to heat up in coming weeks over the debt ceiling issue with Treasury due to run out of money in October. Without an extension to Treasury's borrowing limits, the risk of a technical default will weigh on short-term debt.

The yield on 8-week bills was down 0.3 basis points at 0.071% after reaching 0.081%, the highest since March 15.

Dollar moving further off a near-one-month low hit last week

The dollar rose on Tuesday, moving further off a near-one-month low hit last week, as rising U.S. Treasury yields prompted investors to cut short dollar positions against the euro before a European Central Bank meeting this week.

Cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, also dropped sharply in volatile trading as several trading platforms said they experienced performance issues.

But the dollar has gained in the past two sessions. The dollar index rose 0.6% to 92.42 by 4:07 p.m. ET Tuesday, after touching its lowest since Aug. 4 on Friday.

The euro was last at $1.1838, below Friday’s one-month peak of $1.1909.

The ECB is seen debating a cut in stimulus at its meeting on Thursday, with analysts expecting purchases under the ECB’s Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) falling possibly as low as 60 billion euros a month from the current 80 billion.

Cryptocurrencies plunged sharply on Tuesday with bitcoin dropping as much as 19% on the day and ether falling 23%, before paring losses.