U.S. government debt yields held steady on Tuesday as investors monitored a fresh batch of economic data and Treasury auctions.
Treasurys rates have risen in recent sessions, however, thanks to a combination of de-escalation of U.S.-China trade angst and better-than-expected corporate earnings.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was just lower at 1.768%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also slightly lower at 2.254%. The 10-year rate, which climbed above 1.8% on Monday, is up about 10 basis points over the last 10 days. Bond yields rise as prices fall.
Market focus remains centered on global trade developments after China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said that Beijing and Washington had achieved some progress in their trade talks. His comments came less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump sounded optimistic about the prospect of a trade agreement by the middle of next month.
Most investors continued to focus on the marginally improved relations between the globe's two largest economies instead of the details of a "phase one" deal set to be haggled over for the next few weeks.
Last week, the U.S. and China secured a limited trade agreement, prompting Washington to suspend a scheduled tariff hike for October.
The world's two largest economies have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of one another's goods since the start of 2018, battering financial markets and souring business and consumer sentiment.
On the data front, the Philadelphia Fed non-manufacturing index for October will be released at around 8:30 a.m. ET. Existing home sales for September and the Richmond Fed survey for October will follow slightly later in the session.
The U.S. Treasury is set to auction $40 billion in 2-year notes on Tuesday.