The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield dipped Thursday but held above the 1.5% threshold.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 3.5 basis points to 1.508% by 4:05 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond edged down 3.4 basis points to 1.92%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
Jobless claims last week came in lower than expected, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Initial claims totaled 198,000 for the week ended Dec. 25, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones projected 205,000.
“It’s reflecting near record high job openings and labor shortages we’re seeing left and right. From a claim standpoint … companies are holding on tight to their existing employees and desperately searching for more,” Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer of Bleakley Advisory Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Investors continue to monitor the potential threat of the omicron Covid-19 variant on economic growth.
Covid cases have hit their highest levels of the pandemic in the U.S., according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Nationwide daily new cases were at a record seven-day average of more than 265,000 as of Tuesday.
However, some developments with the omicron Covid variant have steadied investor sentiment.
The president’s top medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday predicted that the latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic may hit its peak in the U.S. by the end of January.
Fauci also said early studies suggest the omicron variant, while highly transmissible, causes less severe illness than the delta strain of the coronavirus.
“All indications point to a lesser severity of omicron versus delta,” Fauci said.
