The 10-year and 2-year Treasury yields each rose 5 basis points on Aug 21, 2026, to 4.74% and 4.24%, against a backdrop of the Aug 19 FOMC minutes' hawkish tone and a Treasury buyback expansion, while 30-year and 15-year mortgage rates held at their prior weekly readings of 6.65% and 5.95%.

The 10-year Treasury yield (DGS10) rose 5 basis points, from 4.69% on Aug 20, 2026 to 4.74% on Aug 21, 2026. The 2-year Treasury yield (DGS2) also rose 5 basis points over the same period, from 4.19% to 4.24%. Both series are observed daily in the Federal Reserve's H.15 release.

The two-day move sits against a backdrop documented by confirmed sources. On Aug 19, 2026, the Federal Reserve released minutes of the July 28-29 FOMC meeting showing several participants judged additional policy tightening could be needed if inflation did not ease, with three participants preferring an immediate 25bp hike at that meeting; the Committee cited persistent, broad-based inflation risks tied to tariffs, energy prices, and the Middle East conflict. At the time of that July meeting, money markets were pricing in a September hike as the base case, but a much weaker-than-expected July jobs report (released Aug 7) pulled that probability down sharply -- well below the July-meeting level -- and it has fluctuated since depending on subsequent data. The FOMC minutes' hawkish tone is most directly relevant to the 2-year note, which is more sensitive to near-term policy expectations, though it describes the committee's July-time thinking rather than the market's current-week pricing.

Separately, the U.S. Treasury announced on Aug 19, 2026 that it would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupons (10-20yr and 20-30yr sectors), from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation, effective Sept 9, 2026 -- a scheduled action confirmed by Treasury's own published Q3 2026 buyback calendar. The buyback expansion targets only the 10-30-year sector and does not directly cover 2-year notes; no confirmed primary source beyond the FOMC minutes explains the 2-year yield's Aug 21 move.

In Freddie Mac's weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.65% and the 15-year fixed-rate averaged 5.95% -- both figures are from the weekly reading dated Aug 20, 2026, one day before this session's date, and are unchanged from the prior reading used in the previous snapshot. As actually offered rates vary by credit profile, loan term, and lender, these figures are national averages only. With DGS10 up 5bp and mortgage rates flat, the 30-year mortgage-over-DGS10 spread narrowed to 1.91 percentage points (191bp) on Aug 21 from 1.96 percentage points on Aug 20. The 10-year/2-year Treasury spread held at 0.50 percentage points (50bp), as both yields rose by the same 5 basis points.

What to watch next: Freddie Mac's next weekly PMMS reading, following the weekly cadence seen in this snapshot (Aug 13 to Aug 20), would fall on Aug 27, 2026. Daily Treasury yields (DGS10, DGS2) update with each new Federal Reserve H.15 business-day release. The FOMC minutes released Aug 19, 2026 referenced market pricing for a hike by the September FOMC meeting, whose outcome will be confirmed at that meeting. Separately, the Treasury's expanded long-end coupon buyback operations, announced Aug 19, 2026, are scheduled to begin Sept 9, 2026.