WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After failing to sustain an initial upward move, treasuries showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Wednesday.
Bond prices spent much of the trading day lingering near the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, edged down by less than a basis point to 2.330 percent.
The roughly flat close by treasuries came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Payroll processor ADP released a report this morning showing a slightly bigger than expected increase in private sector employment in the month of September.
ADP said private sector employment rose by 135,000 jobs in September after surging up by a revised 228,000 jobs in August.
Economists had expected employment to climb by 125,000 jobs compared to the 237,000 job jump originally reported for the previous month.
While private sector employment rose by slightly more than expected, the increase reflected the slowest rate of job growth since last October.
'Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hurt the job market in September,' said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. 'Looking through the storms the job market remains sturdy and strong.'
A separate report from the Institute for Supply Management showed a significant acceleration in the pace of service sector growth in September.
The ISM said its non-manufacturing index jumped to 59.8 in September from 55.3 in August, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to inch up to 55.5.
With the much bigger than expected increase, the non-manufacturing index reached its highest level since hitting 61.3 in August of 2005.
Reports on weekly jobless claims, international trade, and factory orders may attract attention on Thursday, although trading activity is likely to remain subdued ahead of the jobs report on Friday.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX