MW: Treasurys higher after jobless claims, durable-goods data
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices pared gains though short-term yields stayed down near record lows Thursday, after government reports showed U.S. jobless claims fell by 19,000 last week and durable-goods orders for May dropped 1.1%.
The drop in first-time jobless claims put the seasonally adjusted total at 457,000, the lowest in six weeks.
Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.09, -0.04, -1.22%) , which move inversely to prices, fell 3 basis points at 3.09%. A basis point is 0.01%.
Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.66, -0.02, -2.94%) declined 2 basis points at 0.66%.
They earlier touched 0.63%. In December 2008, the 2-yield fell to an all-time low of around 0.60% on an intraday basis.
Gains in bond prices may be limited before the Treasury Department sells $30 billion in 7-year notes (UST7YR 2.55, -0.04, -1.47%) , the last auction of the week. Bids are due at 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Bond analysts and traders at RBS Securities, Guggenheim Partners and Informa Global Markets also noted reports, including from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, about possible military preparations being made by Israel and Iran. See Haaretz.com story.
Along with rising worries about the debt of peripheral European nations, the news "has now created an above-the-radar geopolitical issue that can further assist the fear trade for Treasurys," said John Spinello, a strategist at Jefferies & Co.
