WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the pullback seen in the previous session, treasuries moved back to the upside during the trading day on Thursday.
Bond prices moved higher early in the session but pulled back off their highs as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped by 1.8 basis points to 2.321 percent.
The rebound by treasuries may partly have been due to weakness on Wall Street, with stocks giving back some ground after reaching record highs on Wednesday.
Traders seemed to shrug off another batch of largely upbeat U.S. economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell by much more than anticipated in the week ended October 14th.
The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 222,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week's revised level of 244,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000.
With the much bigger than expected decrease, initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a matching figure in March of 1973.
A separate report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia showed regional manufacturing activity unexpectedly grew at a faster rate in the month of October.
The Philly Fed said its index for current manufacturing activity in the region climbed to 27.9 in October from 23.8 in September, with a positive reading indicating growth.
The increase by the Philly Fed index came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to drop to 22.0.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected decrease by its leading of leading economic indicators in the month of September.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index dipped by 0.2 percent in September after climbing by 0.4 percent in August. Economists had expected the index to inch up by 0.1 percent.
Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at the Conference Board, said the unexpected drop by the index was partly a result of the temporary impact of recent hurricanes.
The Treasury Department also announced the details of next week's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes.
The Treasury said it plans to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Tuesday, $34 billion worth of five-year notes next Wednesday and $28 billion worth of seven-year notes next Thursday.
Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to a report on existing home sales in the month of September. Existing home sales are expected to dip to an annual rate of 5.30 million.
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