The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell on Wednesday as investors assessed wholesale inflation data that came in hotter than expected and the latest Federal Reserve minutes.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was down by more than 4 basis points at 4.614%. Earlier in the session, the 10-year yield hit a low of 4.544%, or its lowest level since Sept. 29. The 2-year Treasury yield was slightly higher, by nearly 3 basis points at 5.007%.
Yields and prices have an inverted relationship and one basis point equals 0.01%.
The benchmark rate came off its lows of the session after the release of a hotter-than-expected producer price index on Wednesday. PPI, which measures wholesale inflation, showed a rise of 0.5% in September. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected PPI to have risen by 0.3% last month on a monthly basis.
Still, the September figure represented a slowing from the 0.7% producer price increase in the previous month.
The PPI release will be followed by the latest consumer price index reading on Thursday.
The fresh inflation data comes after increased uncertainty in recent weeks about whether the central bank will hike rates further. Though the Fed said after its last meeting that it expected one additional rate increase this year, some policymakers have suggested that may now not be necessary, but officials still appear to have mixed opinions.
The minutes from the Fed’s meeting in September, released Wednesday, showed officials see “restrictive” policy remaining in place until inflation eases.
“A majority of participants judged that one more increase in the target federal funds rate at a future meeting would likely be appropriate, while some judged it likely that no further increases would be warranted,” the summary of the Sept. 19-20 policy meeting stated.
Elsewhere, investors continued to consider the Israel-Hamas war that prompted many to invest in traditionally safer Treasurys earlier in the week, pushing yields lower.
— CNBC’s Gina Francolla contributed to this report.
