Treasury yields jumped on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen left the door open to an interest-rate increase at the central bank’s coming March policy meeting. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 4.5 basis points to 2.481%, while the yield on the two-year note — typically the most sensitive to rate-hike expectations — rose 3.7 basis points to 1.246%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 3.5 basis points to 3.067%. Yellen said that Fed officials will consider raising interest rates “at our upcoming meetings,” a decidedly more hawkish message than the central bank’s latest policy outlook, which cautioned that the central bank would be careful to raise interest rates gradually. Yellen added that waiting too long to raise interest rates would be “unwise” because it could force the central bank to play catch-up.
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