Treasuries Move Notably Higher Following Monthly Jobs Report

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Friday following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report.

Bond prices showed a strong move to the upside in morning trading and remained firmly positive throughout the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 6.4 basis points to 2.726 percent.

The strength among treasuries came as the monthly jobs report seemed to ease concerns about the Federal Reserve accelerating the pace of its stimulus withdrawal.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment rose by 192,000 jobs in March compared to economist estimates for an increase of about 200,000 jobs.

At the same time, the report also showed that employment in January and February increased by 144,000 jobs and 197,000 jobs, respectively, reflecting a net upward revision of 37,000.

Peter Boockvar, managing director at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, including the previous months revisions, the overall data was slightly better than expected, but the pronounced bounce back that many had hoped for was more muted."

Despite the continued job growth, the unemployment rate held unchanged at 6.7 percent in March, while economists had expected the unemployment rate to dip to 6.6 percent.

The unemployment rate held steady as the labor force increased by 503,000, nearly matching the 476,000 jump in the household survey measure of employment.

Following the slew of key economic data released over the past week, the economic calendar for next week is relatively light.

Nonetheless, trading could still be impacted by reports on weekly jobless claims, producer prices, and consumer sentiment.

Bond traders are also likely to keep an eye on the results of the Treasury Department's auctions of three-year and ten-year notes and thirty-year bonds.