By Min Zeng 

U.S. Treasury bonds rose on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would be patient about raising interest rates.

The comments came from an interest-rate statement following the Fed's two-day policy meeting. The Fed said the U.S. economy was expanding at a solid pace, but it signaled that short-term interest rates were likely to remain near zero at least until midyear.

"The bond market welcomed the Fed's re-assertion that they remain patient and a rate increase is still months away," said Christopher Sullivan, who oversees $2.45 billion as chief investment officer at the United Nations Federal Credit Union in New York.

In recent trading, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was 1.763%, compared with 1.78% right before the Fed's release, according to Tradeweb. The yield was 1.825% on Tuesday. Bond prices rise as their yields fall.

Fed-funds futures, which are used to place bets on central-bank policy, showed Wednesday that investors and traders see a 15% likelihood of a rate increase at the June Fed policy meeting, according to data from CME Group Inc. It was 18% before the Fed statement. The odds were 26% a month ago.

Bond prices had strengthened earlier Wednesday as growing market turmoil in Greece boosted demand for haven assets.

A $26 billion sale of two-year Treasury notes on Wednesday drew the strongest demand since December 2013, a sign buyers expect the Fed will be slow in shifting to a tighter monetary policy. Higher interest rates from the central bank will erode the value of outstanding bonds.

The 10-year yield traded near a 20-month low. It has fallen from 2.173% at the end of 2014.

-- Write to Min Zeng at min.zeng@wsj.com