Treasury yields traded slightly lower as investors assessed the progress on the next virus relief package and digested the latest employment data.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell slightly to 0.5428% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 1.2161%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Weekly jobless claims hit their lowest level of the pandemic area, totaling 1.186 million last week. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 1.42 million.
“The insured unemployment rate remains north of 10%, serving as a reminder of how far the jobs profile needs to go before it could be considered ‘healthy’,” Jon Hill, BMO’s rates strategist, said in a note. “That said, this latest print should calm nerves that a W-shaped labor market recovery is a foregone conclusion.”
Meanwhile, Congress and the Trump administration are struggling to strike an agreement on the next coronavirus relief bill after the enhanced unemployment benefits expired on Friday.
The White House has threatened Wednesday to act on its own to provide pandemic relief after another day of talks with Democrats yielded no agreement.
The Treasury is set to auction on Thursday $30 billion in 4-week bills and $35 billion in 8-week bills.
— CNBC’s Silvia Amaro contributed reporting.
