U.S. Treasury yields rose slightly on Thursday, but the 10-year rate held above the 1.5% mark, as investors readied for Friday’s job report.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose 1 basis point to 1.538% at 8:45 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose 2 basis points to 2.098%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
On Thursday, the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims data showed Americans submitting jobless claims fell sharply last week as the enhanced unemployment benefits ended. Initial filings for unemployment benefits totaled 326,000 for the week ended Oct. 2, below the 345,000 Dow Jones estimate and a drop from the previous week’s 364,000.
ADP’s monthly employment change report, published Wednesday, showed that private jobs rose by 568,000 in September. This was well above the expected reading of 425,000 new jobs and up from the August print of 374,000.
Investor attention will now turn to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, due out at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday. The data is monitored by the Federal Reserve, as it mulls when to pull back its emergency pandemic stimulus measures, though the central bank has said it will look to wind down its bond-buying program soon.
Auctions are scheduled to be held on Thursday for $10 billion worth of four-week bills and $25 billion worth of eight-week bills.
On Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a short-term suspension of the U.S. debt ceiling to avert a national default and economic crisis, which economists have warned could be disastrous. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that they U.S. should “fully expect” a recession if that happens.
— CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel contributed to this market report.
