10-year Treasury yield slides as Powell says Fed could slow increases at some point

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was lower Wednesday as investors absorbed the Federal Reserve's 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 2 basis points to 2.767%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was slightly lower to 3.006%. Yields move inversely to prices and a basis point is equal to 0.01%.

The second consecutive big rate hike from the Federal Reserve was broadly in line with what economists were expecting. Traders parsed through comments from Fed Chair Powell at his press conference for direction on the September meeting, as well as future interest rate hikes.

Bond yields fell as Powell left the door open about the size of the rate move at its next meeting in September and noted the central bank would eventually slow the magnitude of rate hikes.

Powell said the Fed could hike by 0.75 percentage point again in September, but that it would be dependent on the data.

"As the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases while we assess how our cumulative policy adjustments are affecting the economy and inflation," Powell said.

The Fed statement was much the same although the central bank did give a nod to the slowing economy by adding a line saying, "Recent indicators of spending and production have softened."

The central bank is attempting to curb inflation while navigating a backdrop of slowing growth, as evidenced by weaker-than-expected data last week on business activity and jobs.

"With rates now close to the Fed's estimate of neutral, the economy clearly showing signs of a slowdown in the face of rising rates and inflation set to fall in July, we suspect the Fed will shift back to smaller hikes from here, with a 50bp hike in September the most likely option," said Michael Pearce, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.

In corporate earnings, shares of Boeing declined slightly Wednesday after disappointing on earnings and revenue, because of weakness in its defense unit.

Shopify jumped on the back of a rally in tech stocks despite reporting an earnings miss. The e-commerce company said it expects losses will increase in the current quarter, citing inflation and rising interest rates. 

Qualcomm, Ford and Meta Platforms will report at the end of the day.

— CNBC's Holly Ellyatt and Tanaya Macheel contributed to this report.