Treasuries Move Back To The Upside

(RTTNews) - After moving notably lower over the course of the previous session, treasuries moved back to the upside during trading on Thursday.

Bond prices initially showed a lack of direction but moved higher as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 2.8 basis points to 1.515 percent.

The rebound by treasuries may partly have reflected bargain hunting after the weakness among bonds on Wednesday pushed the ten-year yield to its closing level in over a month.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Labor Department report unexpectedly showing a modest drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 25th.

The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 198,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 206,000.

The slight pullback surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 208,000 from the 205,000 originally reported for the previous week.

A separate report from MNI Indicators growth in Chicago-area business activity picked back up in the month of December.

MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer rose to 63.1 in December from 61.8 in November, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Economists had expected the business barometer to inch up to 62.0.

Most overseas markets will be closed on Friday, potentially leading to light trading activity on the day amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.