Treasury yields rose slightly on Thursday as investors digested latest jobless claims data that came in worst than expected.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained one basis point at 0.711% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also slightly higher at 1.474%. Yields move inversely to prices.
The Labor Department reported 884,000 first-time filings for unemployment insurance, compared to the 850,000 expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. Meanwhile, continuing claims from those filing for at least two weeks rose from the previous week, hitting 13.385 million, an increase of 93,000 from a week ago.
Also on Thursday, the producer prices report for August showed a 0.3% headline increase, compared to a 0.2% rise anticipated and a 0.6% gain in July.
Equity markets bounced on Wednesday, halting consecutive days of losses driven by tech mega stocks Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Facebook and Tesla. This sent yields higher as the day progressed, but investors have returned to a state of apparent caution ahead of Thursday’s open, unsure as to whether the broader stock market rout will continue.
The Senate will vote Thursday on a slimmed-down Republican coronavirus relief package, with discussions between the White House and top Democrats over a broader bill having hit a stalemate. Congressional Democrats have also voiced opposition to the new scaled-back proposal, expected to be worth around $500 billion, which would need seven votes from Democratic senators to pass.
The U.S. Treasury will auction $23 billion of 30-year bonds on Thursday, along with $30 billion of 4-week bills and $35 billion of 8-week bills.
