Treasuries Give Back Ground Following Recent Upward Trend

(RTTNews) - After turning higher over the course of the previous session, treasuries moved back to the downside during trading on Thursday.

Bond prices came under pressure in early trading and remained firmly in the red throughout the session. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 6.2 basis points to 2.016 percent.

With the increase, the ten-year yield closed higher for the first time in nine sessions, bouncing off its lowest closing level in well over a year.

The pullback by treasuries was partly due continued strength on Wall Street, with the Dow surging up by more than 300 points.

Stocks moved sharply higher for the second consecutive session, continuing to recover from the steep drop seen over the past couple of weeks.

Indications that the sell-off by the price of crude oil has also been halted also contributed to the weakness among treasuries.

Crude for February delivery edged up $0.14 to $48.79 a barrel, climbing further off the five-year closing lot set on Tuesday.

Bond traders may also have been looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's monthly jobs report Friday morning.

Economists expect employment to increase by about 245,000 jobs in December after jumping by 321,000 jobs in November.

The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.7 percent from 5.8 percent, hitting its lowest level since June of 2008.