U.S. Treasury yields were mixed on Thursday morning, amid continued fears around the omicron Covid-19 variant.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note ticked higher to 1.4392% at 5:50 a.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond moved lower, slipping to 1.7718%. Yields move inversely to prices.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed on Wednesday that the omicron variant had made its way into the U.S., with the first confirmed case found in California.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 23 countries had identified cases of the highly mutated omicron variant. That number is expected to grow.
Investors are also preoccupied by the possibility of the Federal Reserve tapering its asset purchasing program at a faster-than-expected pace.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell told U.S. House members on Wednesday that the “economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are higher, and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases, which we actually announced at the November meeting, perhaps a few months sooner.”
Powell added that he expected Fed members to discuss this at its upcoming policy meeting.
Cole Smead, president and portfolio manager at Smead Capital Management, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Thursday that this more hawkish tone on monetary policy represented a “mea culpa.”
“What Jay Powell is saying is ‘I was wrong,” he said, adding that it is not yet fully understood what this change in tone means for Fed policy and the value of assets.
On Thursday, Fed Governor Randal Quarles, who is set to resign at the end of the year, is scheduled to give his departing thoughts at the American Enterprise Institute at 11 a.m. ET.
On the data front, the number of jobless claims filed during the week ended Nov. 27 will be released at 8:15 a.m. ET. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect that 240,000 were filed last week. The prior reading showed 199,000 first-time filers, which was the lowest since November 1969.
Auctions are slated to be held on Thursday for $10 billion of 4-week bills and $25 billion of 8-week bills.
— CNBC’s Pippa Stevens contributed to this market report.
