Treasury prices fell Tuesday, pushing yields higher, with a modest rise in stocks sapping demand for government paper.
The 10-year Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y, -0.14% climbed 4 basis points to 2.592%, its highest since March 19. The 2-year note yield TMUBMUSD02Y, +0.18% was up 2.3 basis point to 2.414%, while the 30-year bond yield TMUBMUSD30Y, -0.15% rose 2.9 basis points to 2.992%, also its highest since March 19. Bond prices move inversely to yields.
The positive tone in U.S. equities SPX, +0.05% dulled demand for haven assets like bonds after another round of corporate earnings, with BlackRock BLK, +3.25% beating analysts’ expectations. Investor attention will remain focused on the profits picture amid expectations for the S&P 500 constituent firms to post their first overall earnings decline in three years
See: Stock market at ‘risk of a melt-up, not a meltdown’, warns BlackRock’s Larry Fink
Equities in China also finished strongly on Tuesday, after the People’s Bank of China said in its quarterly meeting that China’s economy was healthy, compared with a previous description of the growth outlook as “stable.” The central bank said it would not need to ramp up liquidity to prop up the market.
China’s CSI 300 index 000300, +2.77% ended higher by nearly 2.8%.
“The new tone sounded confident on the economy, yet more alert on the financial risks that may arise. It seemed to validate the market’s new expectation that the strong March data (so far) might lead the PBOC do less than it otherwise would, but do less for the ‘right reasons,’” wrote analysts at Macquarie.
Industrial production fell 0.1% in March, even as economists polled by MarketWatch anticipated an 0.1% increase. April’s reading of the NAHB Housing Market index inched higher by 1 point to 63, from 62 in March.
Read: Risk of earnings recession rises, as S&P 500 profits to fall for first time in 3 years
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