The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield held above 1.65% on Thursday, after jobless claims data came in slightly better than expected.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained 3 basis points, rising to 1.665% at 8:38 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond climbed 2.4 basis points to 2.134%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
The 10-year rate hit 1.67% earlier this week, as investors eyed strong earnings, which boosted hopes of a continued economic recovery.
The Labor Department reported 290,000 initial jobless claims for the week ending Oct. 16, which lower than the 300,000 estimated by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. It’s also down from the previous week, when the number of weekly unemployment insurance claims fell below 300,000 for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, by 6,000.
Investors are watching to see if jobless claims continue to fall, particularly given that the Federal Reserve has indicated that it will soon start to normalize its monetary policy, as the central bank nears its economic goals.
Meanwhile, September’s existing home sales data is due out at 10 a.m. ET.
Auctions are scheduled to be held on Thursday for $60 billion of four-week bills, $25 billion of eight-week bills and $19 billion of five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.
