NEW YORK: US Treasury debt prices declined on Wednesday, pulling back from a recent rally that was fueled by worries about softening global growth, as risk assets like stocks rebounded.
Traders also awaited potentially market-moving minutes from a Federal Reserve policymakers meeting.
Thirty-year Treasuries, whose yields on Tuesday approached record lows set in July 2012, were off 20/32 in price on Wednesday after eight straight winning sessions that began on Dec. 24, according to Reuters data.
The 30-year last yielded 2.55 percent, compared with 2.753 percent a week ago at the end of 2014.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasuries briefly topped 2 percent in New York trading after easing below the signpost level on Tuesday for the first time since October.
The 10-year's yield eased back and was last at 1.98 percent, reflecting a price decline of 5/32, according to Reuters data. A week ago its yield was 2.174 percent.
Most price declines in Treasuries came ahead of the New York open and prices steadied later, indicating the market was consolidating after the government-debt rally and a selloff in equities, according to David Ader, head of government trading at CRT Capital in Stamford, Connecticut.
"We are kind of waiting for new and, perhaps, better information, whether it's the FOMC minutes or something later," Ader said. "We are kind of hanging out."
Minutes from December's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee were due to be published later on Wednesday and may contain signs of when the U.S. central bank will begin lifting interest rates.
On Friday, a closely watched economic indicator, U.S. employment data for December, is to be released and may prod prices up or down.
Shorter-term Treasuries, which are more affected by Fed policy shifts and have moved less in the rally than 10-year and 30-year issues, were off a little in price or unchanged on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, which has slumped for five sessions as investors sought less risky assets, prices rose on strong U.S. private sector jobs data and as deflation concerns in the euro zone were seen pushing the bloc's central bank into action.
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