WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After closing nearly unchanged for two consecutive sessions, treasuries moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday.
Bond prices surged early in the session and remained firmly positive throughout the day. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slumped 6.5 basis points to 4.210 percent.
The jump by treasuries came as weaker than expected jobs data led to renewed optimism the Federal Reserve will resume cutting interest rates in the coming months.
A report released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by much more than expected in the week ended January 31st.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 231,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 209,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 212,000.
With the bigger than expected increase, jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 237,000 in the week ended December 6th.
The Labor Department also release a separate report showing job openings in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased to their lowest level in over five years in the month of December.
The report said job openings slumped to 6.542 million in December from a downwardly revised 6.928 million in November.
Economists had expected job openings to increase to 7.245 million from the 7.146 million originally reported for the previous month.
With the unexpected decrease, job openings tumbled to their lowest level since hitting 6.511 million in September 2020.
Treasuries may also have benefitted from their appeal as a safe haven amid continued weakness on Wall Street, where the S&P 500 has slumped to its lowest levels in well over a month.
The Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report was likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, but the release of the report has been postponed until next week due to the brief government shutdown that ended earlier this week.
Trading may subsequently be driven more by reaction to the University of Michigan's preliminary readings on consumer sentiment and inflation expectations in the month of February.
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