Long-duration Treasury yields rose again on Thursday as investors awaited a key jobs report to gauge the path of monetary policy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped 2 basis points to 4.712%. It had risen as high as 4.884% on Wednesday, hitting a 16-year high. The yield on the 30-year Treasury was marginally down at 4.874%.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point equals 0.01%.
Thursday’s action in the bond market followed the latest weekly jobless claims data. Initial filings for unemployment benefits totaled 207,000 for the week ended Sept. 30, up just 2,000 from the previous period and below the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 210,000.
“Employers in the aggregate are not yet looking to trim the size of the workforce as evidenced by a still low level of initial claims,” Peter Boockvar, CIO of Bleakley Financial Group, said in a note.
Traders are looking ahead for more clarity from Friday’s U.S. jobs report. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect the economy added 170,000 jobs in September. That would be down slightly from the growth of 187,000 payrolls seen in August.
If the crucial report shows continued tightness in the labor market, it could mean that the Federal Reserve may conduct additional interest rate hikes to ease the upward pressure on inflation. Fed officials recently suggested that interest rates will likely stay higher for longer than previously expected and that there is a possibility of a further rate hike this year.
ADP’s employment change report, published Wednesday, showed a different picture than Thursday’s jobless claims data. The firm said private job growth slowed significantly in September with just 89,000 jobs added, down from 180,000 in August and far below expectations.
— CNBC’s Sophie Kiderlin contributed reporting.
This post was modified on 2023-10-05 13:54:07