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10-Year Treasury Yield Retreats From 3-Year High

Source: NYSE

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell on Wednesday, retreating from levels not seen in more than three years.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped more than 7 basis point to 2.844%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond moved 10 basis points lower to 2.883%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.

The 10-year rate touched 2.94% on Tuesday, its highest level since late 2018.

Yields have spiked recently, as investors have been selling out of bonds amid concerns around inflation and its potential to drag on economic growth.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut its global economic growth forecasts for both 2022 and 2023, saying the economic hit from Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine will "propagate far and wide."

The U.S. is preparing a massive new arms package for Ukraine, according to sources who spoke to NBC.

Rising inflation, exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war, has also fueled investor beliefs that the Federal Reserve will increase the size of its interest rate hikes, in an effort to control pricing pressures.

Luis Costa, head of CEEMEA strategy Citi, told CNBC's "Street Signs Europe" on Wednesday that the U.S. economy was weathering higher interest rates well.

Costa believed U.S. Treasury yields could potentially top 3% in the couple of months, until markets "feel a little bit [of the] pressure from higher nominal and real rates but it's not going to happen very soon."

In economic data, existing home sales in March were 4.5% lower than the same period in 2021, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday.

CNBC's Silvia Amaro and Natasha Turak contributed to this market report.

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