NEW YORK: US Treasury yields fell across the curve on Monday as investors grew nervous about a potential conflict between Russia and Ukraine and a Federal Reserve meeting this week that is widely expected to flag an interest rate hike in March.

US benchmark 10-year and 30-year yields, along with those on the front end such as 2-year and 5-year notes, which both reflecting interest rate expectations, slid to more than one-week lows.

U.S stocks tanked as well in mid-morning trading, heightening the cautious market sentiment.

"We have a de-risking environment. Certainly part of that is geopolitical, but another part of that is the big central bank pivot," said Gregory Faranello, head of US rates at Amerivet Securities in New York.

"We have not just the Fed but global central banks around the world are tightening policy for the most part and risk assets are adjusting," he added.

Dollar slips with US Treasury yields but still up for week; bitcoin falls

The Fed starts its two-day meeting on Tuesday. Investors expect the US central bank to signal that it plans to raise rates in two months by 25 basis points, tightening monetary policy for the first time since it slashed borrowing costs to near-zero soon after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic nearly two years ago.

Fed funds futures, which track short term rate expectations, have priced in a total of four rate increases this year, as the central bank fights to stem soaring inflation.

Aside from the Fed, investors fretted about tension in Ukraine.

NATO said on Monday it was putting forces on standby and reinforcing eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets.

The move suggested that the West is bracing for Russia to attack Ukraine after gathering about 100,000 troops within reach of the latter's border. Russia though denies any intention of invading.

In late morning trading, the benchmark US 10-year yield fell nearly 3 basis points to 1.7192%, after earlier hitting an 11-day low of 1.7070%.

"In the short term, we have a range to start the year at 1.50%-1.90% in the 10-year," said Amerivet's Faranello. "We got to 1.90% and we did that very quickly. So consolidation makes sense."

US 30-year yields were down slightly at 2.0573%. They also slid to a more than one-week low of 2.0330%.

On the shorter-end of the curve, US Treasury 2-year and 5-year yields slipped to 0.9915% and 1.5206% , respectively.

The market is also looking to the auction of $54 billion in US two-year notes later on Monday.