U.S. Treasury yields were flat Thursday after initial jobless claims fell from the week prior for the third-straight week.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were unchanged at 1.359% by 10:30 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond were flat at 2.006%. Yields move inversely to prices.
The Federal Reserve is keeping an eye on the recovery in the labor market to gauge when it should start winding down its ultra-easy policy.
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week totaled 375,000, in line with estimates from economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The prior week’s reading was revised up by 2,000 to 387,000 claims. Bond yields initially rose in reaction to the data.
“Welcome improvement is seen with the new jobless claims numbers, essentially in line with expectations. Of course, new claims reflect recent job loss, rather than the pace of hiring as such. The newly unemployed who are inclined to work should face generally positive prospects, an employment safety net, so to speak,” Bankrate’s Mark Hamrick said in a note.
Continuing jobless claims numbered 2.866 million last week, lower than the previous week and reaching a new pandemic-era low.
July’s producer price index came in hotter than expected Thursday morning. The index tracks the changes in prices companies get for the goods they produce and acts as a more indirect measure of inflation.
Wholesale prices jumped 1%, higher than economists’ estimates and matching June’s increase.
On Wednesday, the July consumer price index, which tracks the growth in prices that people pay for goods and services, showed that core inflation had risen 4.3% over the last year. This marked a slight slowdown in price growth from June’s 4.5%.
Treasury yields fell following the release of the core CPI data, suggesting the numbers eased concerns that inflationary pressures could persist and prompt the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy sooner than expected.
