U.S. Treasury Yields Rise Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions

U.S. Treasury yields edged higher on Monday as Wall Street monitors the latest developments amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — rose more than 3 basis points to 4.576%.

The 2-year Treasury note yield, which more closely tracks short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, was gained more than 3 basis points to 4.208%. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield also traded more than 2 basis points higher at 5.093%.

One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.

U.S. Central Command completed the ninth consecutive evening of strikes against Iran, at 10 p.m. ET on Sunday, Centcom said in a post on X.

The three-hour exercise targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone launch sites. Centcom said the operation was intended to further diminish Tehran's ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. strikes have widened in recent days, with Tehran reporting strikes on civilian infrastructure, including the Bonji desalination plant that cut off water supplies to about 10,000 people.

Tehran has retaliated across the Gulf with fresh attacks on targets in neighboring countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The Kuwaiti army said Monday that its air defense systems were intercepting "hostile" drone attacks from Iran.

Treasury yields eased off last week as investors digested a raft of data releases indicating that the U.S. economy continues to withstand inflationary pressures caused by the Iran war.

Last week's slide in borrowing costs followed cooler-than-expected producer and consumer price data, while U.S. jobless claims for the week ending July 11 came in lower than forecasted, at a seasonally-adjusted 208,000.

On Friday, investors will be monitoring the latest S&P Global Flash U.S. PMI report, which measures the economic health of American manufacturing and services sectors.