NEW YORK: US Treasury yields mostly climbed on Wednesday on reduced concerns about a US economic slowdown, increasing risk appetite and limiting interest in safe-haven government debt.
Yields rose after an ADP employment report showed employers added 214,000 jobs in February, above economists' expectations, suggesting solid job growth, while the Fed's latest Beige Book on regional economic conditions showed economic activity expanded in most districts from early January to late February.
"Between yesterday and today's data one thing that's coming across is that the U.S. economy isn't as bad as markets have been pricing in and things are actually getting better," said Cheng Chen, interest rates strategist at TD Securities in New York.
On Tuesday, private data showed manufacturing activity rebounded in February, also suggesting the U.S. economy was on a steadier path. ADP's jobs data precedes Friday's nonfarm job-creation report from the U.S. Labor Department.
"The ADP adds to beliefs the job market is OK and that was one of the fundamental factors behind the FOMC decision to start to normalize," Kim Rupert, managing director of global fixed income at Action Economics in San Francisco, told Reuters in the Global Markets Forum.
The Federal Open Market Committee, the U.S. central bank's policy-setting group, will meet March 15-16.
U.S. federal funds futures imply traders see only a 4 percent chance of the Fed raising rates at its upcoming meeting, according to Reuters' FedWatch program.
"The urgency we saw earlier in the year, the need to buy because people thought the world was coming to an end, is starting to settle down," said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at CRT Capital Group in Stamford, Connecticut.
Benchmark 10-year notes were last down 5/32 in price to yield 1.8389, compared with 1.835 percent late on Tuesday. The 10-year yield earlier hit 1.872 percent, the highest in more than three weeks.
The 30-year bond was last up 12/32 in price to yield 2.686 percent, down from 2.705 percent late on Tuesday. The 30-year yield touched 2.725 percent, the highest in more than three weeks.
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