U.S. government debt yields rose on Tuesday, as investors switched focus to key economic data and job openings.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose roughly 5 basis points to 2.544 percent at 2:45 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was higher at 2.886 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
Earlier, the U.S. 10-year yield hit a high of 2.506 percent, its highest level since March 20, when the 10-year yielded as high as 2.513 percent.
Treasurys
After last week's nonfarm payrolls data, investors will likely be turning their attention to the latest news surrounding economic data.
The Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed little change in the number of job openings on the last business day of November. The government reported the number of openings at 5.9 million.
"Job openings increased in retail trade (+88,000) but decreased in other services (-64,000), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-60,000), and real estate and rental and leasing (-39,000)," the government said.
Last Friday, the Labor department revealed that 148,000 jobs had been added to the U.S. economy in December,
Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari reiterated his argument that the nation's big banks need to keep more cash in reserves. The central banker sees the capital requirement as a way to prevent a future financial crisis akin the one that occurred in 2008.
"Basically we need to double the capital requirement of the biggest dozen banks in America," he said Tuesday."
The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion in 3-year notes at a high yield of 2.08 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 3.13. Indirect bidders, which include major central banks, were awarded 54.9 percent. Direct bidders, which includes domestic money managers, bought 11.5 percent.
Geopolitics continues to weigh on investor sentiment, as tensions between North Korea and the West rumble on.
On Tuesday, North Korea said that it would send a delegation of high-ranking officials, athletes and a cheering squad to the in February, a senior South Korean official said, according to Reuters.