Treasurys stayed up early Thursday, pushing yields lower, after the Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 35,000 to 626,000 in the week ended Jan. 31, the highest since 1982 and worse than economists expected. Ten-year note yields fell 5 basis points to 2.89%. Continuing claims, an indication of the difficulty in finding a replacement job, increased to a record 4.79 million. A separate report said fourth-quarter productivity rose 3.2% as output and hours declined.
