By Nick Godt, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasurys fell Thursday, extending a rise in the benchmark 10-year note yield past 3%, as investors weighed fresh hopes for the European debt crisis against worse-than-expected U.S. jobs data.
Yields on benchmark 10-year Treasurys (UST10Y 2.99, +0.02, +0.64%) , which move inversely to prices, rose 3 basis points to 3.003%.
Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.54, 0.00, 0.00%) rose 1 basis point to 2.981%. Those on 30-year bonds (UST30Y 4.25, +0.01, +0.21%) were up 1 basis point at 4.252%.
The Labor Department said U.S. jobless claims rose more than expected, up 26,000 to 436,000 in the latest week. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected claims to rise to a seasonally adjusted 429,000 in the holiday-shortened week of Nov. 27. Read more on jobless claims.
Separately, European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet, speaking after the ECB left interest rates unchanged, said rates remain at an appropriate level in the euro zone, and inflation expectations are well anchored.
With the ECB’s conference still ongoing, investors are expecting Trichet to provide more details of the central bank’s support to the eurozone amid its ongoing debt crisis.
“The fierce rally in equities over the past two days and the euro’s gains are at serious risk if the ECB disappoints,” said Benjamin Reitzes, an analyst at BMO Capital markets, in a note. “Now that Mr. Trichet has built up expectations of action, he shouldn’t disappoint or we could see sharp sell off in European peripheral debt, the euro and global equities.”
U.S. stocks opened slightly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA 11,295, +39.43, +0.35%) up 35 points.
