By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. Treasury securities edged up slightly on Thursday morning, sending yields lower, after the latest U.S. jobless claims and housing starts data.
First-time applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week, the government reported Thursday, but the rate of applications submitted stayed at the low end of its recent range. Read Jobless claims up slightly last week, U.S. says
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had been looking for first-time claims to rise 4,000 to 365,000. They rose to 366,000.
On the housing front, new construction of U.S. houses retreated in July after a strong gain in the previous month, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday. Starts fell 1.1% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 746,000 units. Read more on housing starts.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected a slight increase to an annual rate of 765,000 units.
The benchmark 10-year note 10_YEAR -0.88% yielded 1.8%, down 2 basis points from the prior session. The 2-year note 2_YEAR +0.34% was off 1 basis point at 0.28%.
Greg Morcroft is MarketWatch's financial editor in New York.
