Bonds

Treasury yields fall slightly despite better-than-expected jobless claims

Treasury yields dipped on Thursday even as a larger-than-expected fall in initial jobless claims showed a progress in economic recovery amid the pandemic. 

Treasurys


The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell about 2 basis points to 0.635% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond traded 3 basis points lower at 1.360%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Initial jobless claims hit 1.314 million last week, compared to a Dow Jones estimate of 1.39 million. Continuing claims, or those who have been collecting for at least two weeks, dropped 698,000 from a week ago to 18.06 million.

Still, weekly claims have stayed above 1 million for 15 consecutive weeks as workers struggle to get back to their jobs amid rising coronavirus cases.

Market focus is largely attuned to worries over the rising number of coronavirus cases, as global Covid-19 infections surpassed 12 million on Wednesday, with over half a million related deaths.

The global health crisis has prompted many central banks around the world to unload massive emergency stimulus measures in an effort to stimulate an economic recovery.

Stimulus tends to boost gold prices, with the precious metal breaking through the technical $1,800 per ounce threshold in the previous session.

The U.S. Treasury will auction $40 billion of 4-week bills, $40 billion of 8-week bills and $19 billion of 29-year and 10-month bonds on Thursday.