A screen displays U.S. President Donald Trump giving an interview with with CNBC at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, as a trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Jan. 21, 2026.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Treasury yields declined on Tuesday while the rally in oil prices lost momentum as Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested that President Donald Trump delay his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The 10-year Treasury yield — the benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — was 3 basis points lower at 4.305%.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury note, which is more sensitive to short-term Federal Reserve rate decisions, was down by more than 4 basis points at 3.806%.
One basis point equals 0.01%, or 1/100th of 1%, and yields and prices move inversely to one another.
Trump had said that the U.S. would bomb Iranian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges if Iran does not reopen the Strait by 8 p.m. ET. However, Sharif later Tuesday asked Trump to delay that deadline by two weeks “as a goodwill gesture.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “has been made aware of the proposal, and a response will come.”
Oil prices ultimately finished the session relatively unchanged. Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, dipped 15 cents to $109.62 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures inched up 54 cents to settle at $112.95 a barrel.
This comes after Trump said on Truth Social Tuesday morning that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” before adding, “maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World.”
The president also Monday said it was “highly unlikely” he would extend the deadline further.
Iranian officials have rejected plans for a temporary ceasefire and have instead called for a permanent end to the conflict.
“Markets and investors do not appear to have fully priced in, or fully considered the repercussions of such a scenario,” Kambiz Kazemi, CIO of Validus Risk Management, said about the deadline’s possible fallout. “As a result, unprepared portfolios and positioning could lead to an abrupt repricing across a wide range of risk assets.”
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday that durable goods orders fell 1.4% in February, more than the 0.5% decline seen in the prior month and below the 1.1% decline that economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated.
