Treasury Yields Increase

Published May 1, 2026

U.S. Treasury yields rose early in the week as investors looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s policy update on interest rates. Yields moved lower toward the end of the week as the latest employment data showed lower than expected jobless claims.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced an 8-4 vote in favor of keeping interest rates in the range of 3.50% to 3.75%. This marks the first time since October 1992 that there have been four dissents of any type. Although the majority agreed to maintain the current rates, three Fed officials who agreed with the rate hold did not concur with including language indicating that the Fed is leaning towards future rate cuts. 

“The best thing we can do is to use our tools to guide inflation back down to 2%,” said Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell. “I think trying to get there really quickly could be very costly in terms of job loss and things like that, but we try to get there over time in a way that does the least damage possible and our commitment to that is never-ending and unshakable.”

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield opened the week of April 27 at 4.31% and traded as high as 4.44% on Wednesday. The 30-year Treasury bond opened the week at 4.91% and traded as high as 5.03% on Thursday.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that initial claims for unemployment decreased by 26,000 to 189,000 for the week ending April 25, lower than economists’ expectations of 214,000 claims. Continuing claims decreased by 23,000 to 1.79 million.

"There is nothing to worry about in this report. YET!," wrote lead chief economist at High Frequency Economics, Carl Weinberg. "At some point, elevated energy costs and prices for materials will cause firms to lay off marginal workers to protect profit margins."

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of 4/27 at 4.38% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 4.96%.