10-year yield reaches 4% for the first time since November

U.S. Treasury yields rose on Wednesday as investors weighed the latest economic data and assessed the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield briefly topped 4% for the first time since November, and was up 8 basis points at 3.996%. The yield on the 2-year Treasury was last trading at 4.881% after rising more than 8 basis points.

The 1-year yield climbed 3 basis points to over 5%.

Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point equals 0.01%.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said Wednesday that he’s “open to the possibility{

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said Wednesday that he’s open to the possibility of a larger interest rate increase at this month’s policy meeting, but hasn’t made up his mind yet.

“I’m open-minded at this point about whether it’s 25 or 50 basis points,” the central bank official said during an event in his home district.

A voting member on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Kashkari said the “dot plot” of individual members’ future expectations will be more significant than what’s decided at the March 21-22 meeting.

He noted that his “dot” was higher than most of the other FOMC members at the last meeting, when the committee stepped back the level of previous hikes to a quarter-point move. Kashkari indicated the he again is likely to tilt to the hawkish side in view of recent data that shows inflation remains high despite all the rate increases over the past year.

“At this point I have not decided what my dot is going to look like, but I lean towards continuing to raise further. I would continue to push up my policy path,” he said.

—Jeff Cox

=null}” of a larger interest rate increase at this month’s policy meeting, “whether it’s 25 or 50 basis points,” but hasn’t made up his mind yet.

Manufacturing remained in contraction during February as production and new orders slowed, the Institute for Supply Management reported Wednesday. The closely watched ISM Manufacturing Index registered a 47.7% reading, representing the percentage of companies reporting expansion. A reading below 50% represents contraction.

Economists had been looking for a headline reading of 47.8%, according to Dow Jones.

Later in the week, initial jobless claims data and ISM’s PMI report for the services sector are due and a series of Fed speakers will make remarks. Investors will be scanning their comments for insights into whether tighter monetary policy could continue for longer.

Since early 2022, the Fed has been announcing measures such as interest rate hikes as it aims to ease inflation. Many investors are hoping for a pause in rate increases this year as they fear keeping rates too high for too long could lead to a recession.

Recent economic data, however, has suggested that pressures from rising prices are continuing.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.