By Joseph Adinolfi, MarketWatch

Treasury yields ticked higher on Monday as investors were reluctant to open large positions ahead of President Donald Trump's first congressional address, market strategists said.

The Wall Street Journal reported (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trumps-speech-to-congress-to-touch-on-tax-cuts-health-plan-2017-02-26) that Trump's speech will focus on overhauling the tax code and health-care system. But investors are wondering if his comments about taxes will be similar to the broad-strokes statements he has made in the past, or if he will delve into greater detail about his plans and his hopes for pushing them through Congress.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note 2.8 basis points to 2.341%, while the yield on the two-year note slipped two basis points to 1.168%. The yield on the 30-year bond shed 1.8 basis point to 2.970%.

"Will there be details? Will he mention the words border-adjusted tax?," said Peter Boockvar, managing director and chief market analyst at the Lindsey Group. "Or will we just get vague comments that something big league is coming?"

There has been substantial confusion surrounding Republican tax plans in recent weeks. Last week, Trump told Reuters that he supports a border tax, but it was unclear whether he was referring to the border-adjusted tax plan favored by House Republicans, or something else. On Friday, Axios reported that Gary Cohn, chief economic adviser to the president and former president of Goldman Sachs, told a group of chief executive officers that the White House doesn't support the border-adjusted tax, though the White House subsequently denied the report.

The Republican border-adjusted tax plan would decrease the tax paid by exporters on goods shipped out of the country, while increasing taxes on imports.

Last week, Treasury yields notched their largest drop in December, (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/treasury-yields-on-track-to-decline-for-3rd-day-2017-02-24)driven in part by minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting, intensifying fears that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen might prevail in the coming French presidential election and concerns about the lack of detail surrounding the economic policies put forth by the Trump administration.

Investors dumped bonds in the aftermath of the Nov. 8 U.S. election, partly due to the expectation that Trump would swiftly implement the program of corporate-tax cuts, infrastructure spending and deregulation that he campaigned on.

Some of that trade has reversed in recent weeks as investors judge that those policies--which are expected to boost inflation and economic growth--might have a limited impact in 2017.

"People are concerned that it's going to take a while for this to happen," said Joseph Colleran, senior vice president and head trader at Leumi.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 27, 2017 12:22 ET (17:22 GMT)