10-year U.S. Treasury yield approaches 11-month high after weekly jobless claims drop
U.S. Treasury yields rose in early Thursday’s trade as labor-market data suggested the economic hit from the pandemic’s resurgence at the end of the year is easing.
What are Treasurys doing?
The 10-year Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y,
The 2-year note rate TMUBMUSD02Y,
What’s driving Treasurys?
U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 33,000 to 779,000 at the end of January, and fell for the third straight week to the lowest level since Nov. 28.
The number of people already collecting state jobless benefits, meanwhile, fell by 193,000 to a seasonally adjusted 4.59 million.
The data comes ahead of the January employment report from the U.S. Labor Department due Friday, with analysts predicting a gain of 50,000 jobs, after the U.S. economy lost 140,000 jobs in December.
In other data, U.S. productivity dropped at 4.8% annual rate in fourth quarter.
The Bank of England kept interest rates and its bond-buying program unchanged. The central bank also said it wanted to develop the capabilities to set a negative interest rate, even if it had no intention to do so in the future.
Though, the central bank remained downbeat on the U.K.’S economic outlook, they raised their inflation forecasts. This helped feed the growing belief among market participants that higher price pressures are percolating across the world.
The 10-year U.K. government bond yield TMBMKGB-10Y,
What did market participants say?
“The Bank of England’s outlook for higher inflation pressured global rates upward,” said Jim Vogel, an interest-rate strategist at FHN Financial.
