Treasury yields dipped on Thursday as a big equity sell-off drove investors into safe bonds.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell slightly to 0.62% while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was also lower at 1.35%. Yields move inversely to prices.
Stocks fell sharply on Thursday, retreating from all-time highs as the tech sector suffered its biggest drop in months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 1,000 points at its session low.
Earlier in the session, yields were higher after the latest U.S. jobless claims data came in better than expectations.
New filings for jobless claims totaled 881,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect first-time applications to have decelerated to 950,000 during the week ending Aug. 29. That also marks a reduction from the prior week’s print, which exceeded 1 million first-time applicants.
Investors are awaiting a key monthly jobs report on Friday, which is forecast to show payrolls continued to rebound in August. Economists polled by Dow Jones forecast that 1.255 million jobs were created in August.
On Wednesday, U.S. yields dropped on the back of fresh employment data and comments from the Federal Reserve. Private payrolls increased by 428,000 in August, roughly double that of July but much lower than estimates.
In its “Beige Book” report, the Fed said that economic growth is continuing but remains “modest” and “well below” pre-pandemic levels.
As for auctions, $30 billion in 4-week Treasury bills and $35 billion in 8-week bills are due to be auctioned on Wednesday.
