U.S. Treasury yields were mildly lower on Thursday morning, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell painted a gloomy picture on U.S. employment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped to 1.15% at 9:40 a.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 1.923%. Yields move inversely to prices.
U.S. government bond yields slipped after Powell told the Economic Club of New York on Wednesday that the U.S. is “a long way” from where it needs to be in terms of employment.
He said monetary policy would need to remain “patiently accommodative” to deal with this issue.
Initial jobless claims for last week also came in worse than expected on Thursday. There were 793,000 first-time claims, while economists surveyed by Dow Jones were anticipating 760,000.
Auctions will be held Thursday for $30 billion of 4-week bills, $35 billion of 8-week bills and $27 billion of 30-year bonds.
— CNBC’s Jeff Cox contributed to this report.
