A wave of U.S. government bond sales intensified on Thursday, leading to higher yields after new data indicated a strengthened economic recovery and a seven-year treasury auction with lukewarm investor demand.
According to Tradeweb, the yield on the 10-year benchmark Treasury note reached 1.539% and was recently 1.501%, up from 1.388% at the close on Wednesday. Movements were also pronounced on bonds with shorter dates, with a five-year yield at a given time reaching 0.865%, up from 0.612% on Wednesday.
Yields, which rise as bond prices fall, rose after the Department of Labor data showed that the number of unemployment claims fell sharply last week, indicating that the labor market could stabilize after layoffs would increase in early winter.
Investors tend to sell treasury when they expect faster growth and inflation, which reduces the value of fixed bond payments and may eventually lead the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates.
Yields rose later in the session following a $ 62 billion three-year to three-year auction, according to analysts, which showed extremely weak interest from investors.