Treasuries move lower after early volatility

(RTTNews) – Treasuries showed a lack of direction in early trading Thursday, but moved lower during the trading day.

Bond prices slipped more firmly into negative territory after spending early trading bouncing off the unchanged line. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond, which moves opposite its price, rose 2.6 basis points to 4.432 percent.

The weakness in Treasuries may reflect lingering concerns about the interest rate outlook after the Labor Department released a report showing initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over six months last week.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 213,000 in the week ended Nov. 16, a decline of 6,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 219,000.

Economists expected jobless claims to reach 220,000, up from 217,000 initially forecast for the previous week.

With the unexpected decline, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since reaching 209,000 in the week ended April 27.

During her speech Wednesday, Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said she was more concerned about inflation risks than the labor market.

While another quarter-point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next month was widely expected earlier this month, CME Group’s FedWatch tool suggests the chances of a rate cut have significantly increased. decreased.

The FedWatch tool currently still shows a 56.1 percent chance of a quarter-point rate cut, but a 43.9 percent chance that the Fed will leave rates unchanged.

Friday’s trading activity could be somewhat muted amid a relatively quiet day in terms of U.S. economic news.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.