Bonds

2-year Treasury yield reaches highs not seen in more than a decade

U.S. Treasury yields climbed on Thursday as investors considered the prospect of further interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve and awaited fresh economic data.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was up by 7 basis points to 4.066%. The 2-year Treasury yield was last trading at 4.889%. Earlier in the session, it traded at its highest level since July 2007.

Yields and prices have an inverted relationship and one basis point equals 0.01%.

Treasurys


Investors considered the likelihood of further interest rate hikes and rates staying higher for longer.

A surge in labor costs and a pullback in jobless claims reported early Thursday point to the likelihood that the Fed will raise its benchmark interest rate another 0.25 percentage point later this month.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said in a speech Thursday that he's "firmly" in favor of sticking with quarter-point hikes.

On Wednesday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic published a statement saying he believed rates would need to go higher still and remain elevated "well into 2024" as the battle with inflation continues.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari indicated that further interest rate increases could be on the horizon and that the Fed may accelerate the pace of rate hikes again.

At its latest meeting, the central bank had hiked rates by 25 basis points. This marked a slowdown compared to the previous five increases which included four consecutive 75 basis point hikes followed by a 50 basis point hike.

Many investors have been concerned about the pace of rate hikes dragging the U.S. economy into a recession.

— CNBC's Ganesh Rao contributed to this report

Correction: The 2-year hit its highest level since July 2007. A previous version misstated the year.