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By Ellie Ismailidou, MarketWatch

Yields snapped a 7-session streak of increases

Treasury prices soared on Wednesday, pushing yields to their lowest level in a week, after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and took a wait-and-see view of future interest-rate hikes.

Selling pressures in the equity market (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-futures-drop-after-apple-whiffs-on-earnings-2016-04-27), mainly due to a selloff in Apple's (AAPL) shares following weak quarterly results, also fueled demand for haven investments, mainly government debt.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-SHYyear note tumbled 7.1 basis points to 1.860%, its lowest level since April 20, according to Tradeweb. One basis point is equal to oneSHY-hundredth of a percentage point.

The yield on the twoSHY-year Treasury lost 2.4 basis points to 0.841%, and the yield on the 30-SHYyear bond fell 5.7 basis points to 2.698%.

The yield on the 10-year German bond , known as the bund, lost 1 basis point to 0.289%.

Yields had been rising for the previous seven straight sessions, the longest streak since May 2015, reaching on Tuesday their highest level in over a month.

But yields tumbled after the U.S. central bank essentially confirmed "what others in the financial industry already knew," namely that although labor market conditions have improved, growth in economic activity appears to have slowed, (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-stands-pat-and-is-silent-about-future-of-interest-rates-2016-04-27)said Mary Talbutt, a fixed-income portfolio manager at The Stanley Laman Group.

The Fed moderated its previous expression of concern about global financial and economic developments, saying only that it was monitoring them. In March, it expressed concern those were areas of risk.

The market had essentially ruled out a rate increase today, but it was pricing in "a pretty modest rate-hike path," said Robert Tipp, Prudential Fixed Income's chief investment strategist, before the Fed's announcement.

The Fed's statement didn't significantly alter that perspective, said Kathy Jones, chief fixed-income strategist at Schwab Center for Financial Research, after the announcement.

The central bank's language was "as close to expectations as you can get. They acknowledged the weakening in the economy but also said enough to leave the door open for June rate hike," Jones said.

But the market was already "testing the highs of a recent range", as yields were at their highest level in a month, which could explain why yields tumbled after the announcement.

A closely watched measure of the market's Fed expectations, the CME Group's FedWatch Tool (http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html), indicated a 23% probability of a rate increase in June after the Fed's statement, slightly up from 21% Wednesday afternoon.

On the U.S. economic front, a flurry of data showed steady improvement in economic conditions.

An index that tracks home contract signings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-rise-14-to-10-month-high-in-march-2016-04-27) rose again in March to a 10-month high, as low interest rates boosted homebuying.

Meanwhile, an early look at U.S. trade patterns (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-trade-deficit-to-show-big-drop-in-march-advanced-report-indicates-2016-04-27)in March pointed to a sharp drop in the nation's trade deficit. A smaller deficit in March could give first-quarter gross domestic product a nudge upward, though the number is still expected to be weak.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2016 15:19 ET (19:19 GMT)

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