WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After showing a lack of direction early in the session, treasuries moved to the downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday.
Bond prices slid more firmly into negative territory in afternoon trading after spending the morning lingering near the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.4 basis points to 4.244 percent.
The ten-year yield added to the 2.4 basis point gain posted in the previous session, climbing further off Tuesday's three-month closing low.
The weakness that emerged in afternoon trading came as the Treasury Department revealed this month's auction of $25 billion worth of thirty-year bonds attracted below average demand.
The thirty-year bond auction drew a high yield of 4.813 percent and a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.27, while the ten previous thirty-year bond auctions had an average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.43.
The bid-to-cover ratio is a measure of demand that indicates the amount of bids for each dollar worth of securities being sold.
Earlier this week, the Treasury revealed this month's auction of $58 billion worth of three-year notes attracted slightly below average demand, while this month's auction of $42 billion worth of ten-year notes attracted well below average demand.
In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended August 2nd.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 226,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level of 219,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 221,000 from the 218,000 originally reported for the previous week.
A separate report released by the Labor Department this morning showed a significant rebound by labor productivity in the second quarter.
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