Treasuries Recover From Early Weakness To Close Roughly Flat

(RTTNews) - After moving modestly lower in early trading on Wednesday, treasuries recovered over the course of the session to close nearly flat.

Bond prices climbed well off their worst levels but still ended the day slightly lower. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by less than a basis point to 2.264 percent.

The early weakness among treasuries was partly due to the release of a report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended December 20th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 280,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 289,000, while economists had expected claims to inch up to 290,000.

With the unexpected drop, jobless claims slid to their lowest level since hitting 278,000 in the week ended November 1st.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves amid the holiday-shortened Christmas Eve session.

Following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, trading activity is likely to remain subdued when the markets reopen on Friday amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.