US Treasury Sec. Yellen extends government default deadline to Dec 15, yields rejoice

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen offered some consolation to the market late Tuesday after she announced an extension to a deadline for a potential US government default to December 15 from December 3.

The extended deadline would give Congress more time to raise the federal debt ceiling.

Yellen told lawmakers that she now estimates that the US to reach its debt limit on December 15, almost two weeks later than her initial forecast of December 3.

In reaction to Yellen’s statement, the yields on the US 10-year Treasury bills extended its post-Retail Sales gains and reached the highest levels in three weeks at 1.644%.

Amidst rising inflationary pressures and Fed’s rate hike expectations, the returns on the US debt are once again looking attractive while the US dollar holds near 16-month peak against its main competitors.

Read: US 10-year Treasury yields wobble at three-week top on mixed clues