10-year Treasury yield climbs as investors await economic data, clues on monetary policy

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed on Tuesday as investors awaited a fresh batch of economic data and watched for clues on the path of monetary policy.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note last traded up 4 basis points to 2.9240%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 4 basis points to 3.1317%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.

That comes shortly after former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank had made a mistake in waiting to address an inflation problem that has turned into the worst episode in U.S. financial history since the early 1980s.

Speaking to CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in an interview that aired on Monday’s “Squawk Box” show, Bernanke said that he understood why the Jerome Powell-led central bank had delayed its inflation response but, in retrospect, this was an error.

Bernanke guided the Fed through the financial crisis that exploded in 2008 and presided over unprecedented monetary policy expansion.

Market participants on Tuesday are likely to monitor a flurry of Fed speeches. Most notably, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival at around 2 p.m. ET.

Elsewhere, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans are all set to deliver remarks at separate events.

On the data front, retail sales for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET, with industrial production figures and capacity utilization data for April set to follow at 9:15 a.m. ET. Business inventories for March and the National Association of Home Builders survey for May will both be published slightly later in the session.

The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday will auction $34 billion in 52-week bills.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.