U.S. Treasury yields steady as Fed officials prepare to speak and inflation concerns persist

U.S. Treasury yields were relatively unchanged on Tuesday as investors awaited new clues on the state of the U.S. economy.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was more than 1 basis point higher at 4.974%. Yields on the 2-year note were up less than 1 basis point at 4.762%, while the 30-year Treasury yield gained 1 basis point to 5.306%.

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

Fed Vice Chair Philip N. Jefferson will deliver remarks at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Treasury Market Conference on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Michael S. Barr, a member of the central bank's Board of Governors, will speak at a housing affordability summit in Chicago.

It comes after Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee told an audience in London that he was "especially attuned to elevated inflation in service-sector industries, and to any evidence that AI data center construction is spilling out of its own lane and raising aggregate output beyond what the economy can absorb."

"If demand overheats, there is no ambiguity about how the Fed needs to respond," he said.

Goolsbee also noted that forecasters had spent more than a year pushing back the date when inflation was supposed to peak and start falling.

"Originally it was supposed to happen in Q4 2025. Then Q1 2026. Then Q2, then Q3, then Q4 — and now sometime in 2027," he said. "That's not a comforting pattern."

Oil prices remain in focus on Tuesday, with prices lower after reports claimed Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days and as Saudi Arabia is reportedly aiming to restart its East-West pipeline as soon as as this week.

This comes amid increasing pressure from Washington on Tehran. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said all Iranian airlines will be shut down from Wednesday.

Futures for international benchmark Brent crude for November delivery were last down 1% to trade at $98.50 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell 2% to $93.50 per barrel.

President Donald Trump will meet with world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.