"The growth story is leading to inflation, while the Federal Reserve is jawboning, trying to keep expectations down, which I think is the right thing to do."
In mid-morning trading, the US 10-year Treasury yield fell to 1.559% on Thursday, from 1.584% late on Wednesday.
"Right now it's month-end rebalancing," said Ian Lyngen, head of US rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets in New York, noting the next major market catalyst will be next Friday's jobs report for April.
The yields fell back down in the afternoon, however, and are now trading in the middle of their recent range.
Business reopenings from COVID-19-related shutdowns have accelerated this month, and investors are also pricing for higher inflation as fiscal spending increases.
"With the reopening process, it seems to have hit a higher gear in April," said Tom Simons, a money market economist at Jefferies in New York.
The benchmark 10-year yield was down 2.3 basis points at 1.5331% in morning trading, at low end of the 1.528% to 1.646% range it has held since April 15.
Treasury auctions of 2-year, 5-year and 7-year notes on Monday and Tuesday totaling $183 billion will also show the market's appetite for US debt.
"We've confirmed that demand for Treasuries is healthy, which means there is no upward pressure on yields," said Junichi Ishikawa, senior foreign exchange strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.
The Thomson Reuters/HKEX Global CNH index, which tracks the offshore yuan against a basket of currencies on a daily basis, stood at 96.69, firmer than the previous day's 96.56.