U.S. 10-year yield rises above 1.98% after Bullard says Fed needs to act faster to fight inflation

U.S. Treasury yields were steady on Monday with investors evaluated safe-haven assets amid the escalated geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up more than 3 basis points at 1.986% at around 9:00 a.m. ET. The benchmark 10-year rate hit the 2% level last week following the hottest inflation reading in four decades.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond, meanwhile, was added about 2 basis points to trade at 2.28%. Yields move inversely to prices and a basis point equals 0.01%.

Yields moved higher as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard reiterated his call for the central bank to take aggressive steps to fight inflation in the first half of 2022. Bullard told CNBC that the Fed should “front-load” the tightening of its monetary policy.

Bullard said after last Thursday’s hot CPI report that he would like to see 100 basis points of hikes by July 1, and traders appeared to take that as a sign that the Fed could raise its benchmark rate by 50 basis points in May.

“My interpretation was not so much that report alone, but the last four reports taken in tandem have indicated that inflation is broadening and possibly accelerating in the U.S. economy,” Bullard said on Monday.

Earlier on Monday, yields were lower but came back following comments from Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Vladimir Putin that appeared to suggest Russia would continue talks with EU and NATO over Ukraine.

On Friday, a sharp move lower in bond yields came after U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at a White House briefing that there were signs of Russian escalation at the Ukraine border and that it was possible that an invasion could take place during the Olympics, despite speculation to the contrary.