US stocks rise but bonds fall as Yellen hints of rate hike

Stocks mostly rose on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent and the STOXX Europe 600 rose 0.6 percent. However, the Nikkei 225 was flat.

US Treasuries fell. The yield on the 10-year note rose to 2.278 percent from 2.222 percent on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told a congressional hearing that an increase in interest rates “could well become appropriate relatively soon”.

Yellen added that the “risk of falling behind the curve in the near future appears limited” and that future rate increases will be “gradual”.

Not everyone agrees with her.

Deutsche Bank chief economist Joe LaVorgna told CNBC on Thursday that Trump will give the economy a lot of fiscal stimulus and that could put the Fed “in a really, really tough spot”.