U.S. government debt prices were lower on Wednesday morning as market participants awaited a speech from Jerome Powell.
At around 3:00 a.m ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 0.7177%, whereas the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond jumped to 1.4238%. Yields move inversely to prices.
The main focus is a speech due Thursday by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who traders will be looking to for clues over future monetary policy decisions.
In the meantime, markets remain focused on coronavirus developments and news of further trade talks between the U.S. and China, which resumed Tuesday.
Equity markets seemed to be losing some of their recent momentum on Wednesday morning.
On the data front, there will be new durable goods numbers at 8:30 a.m.
The Treasury is due to auction $22 billion in two-year floating rate notes and $51 billion in 5-year notes.