RTRS: TREASURIES-Bonds down on stocks, slight easing in jobless woes
U.S. Treasuries prices fell on Thursday after data showed a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly claims for jobless benefits and Wall Street's outlook brightened on Wells Fargo's upbeat preliminary earnings.
The Wells Fargo (WFC.N) statement helped assuage some of the worst fears over the ailing U.S. banking sector, sending prices of safe-haven government bonds lower as it enhanced the allure of riskier assets such as stocks.
The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, a rare bit of good news for the beleaguered job market. For more see [ID:nN09264963].
However, they were still highly recessionary at 654,000 and hardly paint a picture of imminent recovery given that continued claims scaled another record high in late March.
The continued economic weakness helped limit the downside for bonds.
"It does appear ever so slightly that we have hit a peak. The numbers are stabilizing around 650,000, but things are still really bad," said T.J. Marta, chief market strategist at Marta on the Markets in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
"I'm still very pessimistic about the prospects of any enduring recovery. The pessimism creeps in because of the continued claims figure. That speaks to the fact, in spite of the stabilization, there is no sustainable upward trend in growth."
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was last trading down 14/32 in price, pushing the yield up to 2.92 percent from 2.86 percent late on Wednesday.
The losses pushed the 30-year long bond down more than one full point on the day. It was last trading down 1-1/32, yielding 3.73 percent versus 3.67 percent on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the market was also weighed down by the prospect of an $18 billion reopening auction of 10-year Treasuries later in the session.
The bond market will close early on Thursday ahead of the Good Friday holiday when U.S. financial markets are closed.
This could leave trading thin during the crucial period around the auction, which matches last month's record size for a 10-year reopening.
