WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After turning lower over the course of the previous session, treasuries saw some further downside during trading on Thursday.
Bond prices initially showed a lack of direction but moved modestly lower as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, crept up by 1.4 basis points to 3.109 percent.
With the modest increase on the day, the ten-year yield extended a recent uptrend, reaching its highest closing level since July of 2011.
The continued weakness among treasuries came following the release of a report from the Conference Board showing a continued increase by its index of leading economic indicators.
The Conference Board said its leading economic index rose by 0.4 percent in April, matching the upwardly revised increase in March as well as economist estimates.
Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at the Conference Board, said, 'April's increase and continued uptrend in the U.S. LEI suggest solid growth should continue in the second half of 2018.'
'However, the LEI's six-month growth rate has recently moderated somewhat, suggesting growth is unlikely to strongly accelerate,' he added.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department released a separate report showing a bigger than expected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended May 12th.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 222,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 211,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 215,000.
Amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to comments by several Federal Reserve officials.
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