Yields on ten-year U.S. government bonds rose to 1.344 percent on 19 February from 1.286 percent the week before, the largest weekly increase since 8 January, lifting yields from the 1- to 1.2-percent range where they have traded for much of the last month.
Thirty-year bond yields edged up to 2.140 percent from 2.076 percent week on week, the highest yield in more than a year.
The rise was propelled in part by better-than-expected retail sales data from the U.S. commerce department.
The move to bonds lacked a spark from fundamental economic factors, leading analysts to refer to the higher yields as a “reflation trade” – a bet that the economy will rebound quickly enough to trigger inflation and even higher yields.
TRENDPOST: Higher government spending, as promised by President Biden’s $1.9-trillion stimulus proposal, tends to push bond prices down and yields up by sparking economic expansion and a resulting broad rise in prices.
