By Susanne Walker May 13 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury 30-year debt rose, pushing down yields from the highest level in more than a week, before a $16 billion auction of the securities, the final of three note and bond sales this week totaling $78 billion. Government securities maturing in five years and less remained little changed after a report showed the number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits dropped for a fourth straight week. Treasuries gained earlier as the euro weakened for a third day. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.3 percent. “The last leg of this week’s refunding is the main event of interest in today’s session,” said Ian Lyngen, a government bond strategist at CRT Capital Group LLC in Stamford, Connecticut. “We have steepened dramatically over last several days as part of the post-European bailout selloff.” The 30-year bond yield dropped 3 basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 4.45 percent at 9:24 a.m. in New York, according to BGCantor Market Data. It touched 4.49 percent earlier, the highest since May 4. The 4.625 percent security due in February 2040 rose 14/32, or $4.38 per $1,000 face amount, to 102 27/32. Ten-year yields fell 3 basis points to 3.55 percent. The difference between yields on 2- and 10-year notes, known as the yield curve, was 2.69 percentage points, compared with 2.61 percentage points a week ago. Initial jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 444,000 in the week ended May 8, higher than the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance increased and those getting extended payments fell. Today’s Auction The 30-year bonds scheduled for sale today yielded 4.48 percent in pre-auction trading, dropping from 4.77 percent at the last sale of the securities, on April 8. “There’s still a fairly healthy structural demand for long- dated assets,” said Steve Mansell, a director of interest-rate strategy at Citigroup Inc. in London. “We’ve had quite a concession built into the market in the long end. A yield close to 4.5 percent should attract reasonable demand.” Investors bid for 2.73 times the amount of debt on offer last month, versus the 10-sale average of 2.56. Indirect bidders, the investor class that includes foreign central banks, purchased 36.8 percent of the securities, compared with an average of 39.3 percent for the past 10 sales. To contact the reporter on this story: Susanne Walker in New York at swalker33@bloomberg.net

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