After ending the previous session modestly lower, treasuries showed a substantial move to the downside during trading on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Bond prices came under pressure in morning trading and remained firmly negative throughout the afternoon. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, surged 13.2 basis points to 3.265 percent.<\/p>\n
With the sharp increase on the day, the ten-year yield jumped to its highest closing level in well over two months. <\/p>\n
The sell-off by treasuries came as traders remained concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.<\/p>\n
The report, which is expected to show employment jumped by 300,000 jobs in August after surging by 528,000 jobs in July, could have a significant impact on the outlook for rates.<\/p>\n
With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning unexpectedly showing a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 27th.<\/p>\n
The report showed initial jobless claims edged down to 232,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 237,000.<\/p>\n
The dip came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 248,000 from the 243,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
A report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity remained at a two-year low in August.<\/p>\n
The ISM said its manufacturing PMI came in at 52.8 in August, unchanged from July. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 52.0.<\/p>\n
While the index remained at its lowest level since hitting 52.4 in June 2020, a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the manufacturing sector.<\/p>\n
The monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, overshadowing a separate report on factory orders. <\/p>\n