US Treasury yields move lower as investors await auctions

U.S. government debt prices were higher on Thursday morning, as investors monitored a flurry of Treasury auctions.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, was lower at around 2.6921 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also lower at 2.9984 percent.

The moves in pre-market trade come after delegations from Washington and Beijing ended three days of trade negotiations in China on Wednesday.

China’s commerce ministry said Thursday the negotiations were extensive and had helped set up a foundation for further talks.

This week’s face-to-face meetings were the first to take place since U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to a 90-day truce last month.

If both sides are unable to secure a comprehensive trade agreement by March 2, Trump has said he plans to raise tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.

No major economic data reports are expected to be published on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury is set to auction $40 billion in 4-week bills, $30 billion in 8-week bills and $16 billion in 29-year-10-month bonds on Thursday.