Many investors agree the path of least resistance for Treasury yields is higher. But with geopolitical turmoil roiling Wall Street, the bond bears have had a hard time sticking to their guns. Treasury yields are struggling to break above their February highs even as March consumer-price index data released Wednesday underlined rising price pressures. Bond prices rise when yields fall.“CPI or any other economic data release is a back-burner item when you have so much geopolitical risk on the forefront,” said Tom di Galoma, managing director of Treasurys trading at Seaport Global Securities. Turbulence in the stock market has stirred up haven-related buying of U.S. government paper as geopolitical concerns have approached from several fronts. Investors are contending with a trade spat between the U.S. and China, a potential Syrian intervention and heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow. Since March 21, the 10-year Treasury yield TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.11% has fallen from 2.91% to a two-month low of 2.73% on April 2, later steadying at around 2.80%. That hasn’t stopped trigger-happy hedge funds from ramping up their bets that yields will head higher. The number of speculative bets on falling 10-year Treasury futures exceeded bets for rising futures by 375,365 contracts for the week ending April 3, a near record, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The net number of bearish bets on 5-year note futures hit 579,306 contracts, an all-time high.via