U.S. Treasury yields rose on Wednesday, despite growing investor concerns about how the Russia-Ukraine war could intensify price pressures.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note moved 7 basis points higher to1.943% at 4:00 p.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond added 6 basis point to 2.309%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
Treasurys
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to roil financial markets. U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that the U.S. will ban imports of Russian oil in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, had already topped $130 a barrel on Sunday as a result of the conflict. However, oil prices pulled back on Wednesday.
WTI crude oil tumbled more than 12%, or $15, to settle at $108.7 per barrel, registering its worst day since Nov. 26. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil, the international benchmark, fell a similar 13%, or $16.8 to $111.1, for its biggest one-day drop since April 2020.
Higher commodity prices have sparked investor concerns that this could push up headline inflation, while also slowing economic growth. However, investors where selling Treasuries and rotating back into stocks as commodity prices eased.
On the economic front, job openings outnumbered available workers by nearly 5 million in January, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
Total vacancies actually dipped a bit, falling to 11.26 million following a substantial upward adjustment in December's numbers, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed.
February's consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, is due out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
— CNBC's Tanaya Macheel contributed to this market report.