After coming under pressure over the course of the previous session, treasuries showed another significant move to the downside during trading on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Bond prices moved notably lower in morning trading and remained firmly negative throughout the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, jumped 9.6 basis points to 3.528 percent.<\/p>\n
The continued weakness among treasuries came amid a rally on Wall Street, with stocks moving sharply higher in reaction to upbeat earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a Commerce Department report showing U.S. economic growth slowed by much more than expected in the first three months of 2023.<\/p>\n
The report said real gross domestic product increased by 1.1 percent in the first quarter after jumping by 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022. Economists had expected the pace of GDP growth to slow to 2.0 percent.<\/p>\n
The Commerce Department said the slowdown in GDP growth primarily reflected a downturn in private inventory investment and a slowdown in non-residential fixed investment. <\/p>\n
A separate report from the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly declined in the week ended April 22nd.<\/p>\n
The report said initial jobless claims dipped to 230,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 246,000.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 248,000 from the 245,000 originally reported for the previous week.<\/p>\n
Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to a report on U.S. personal income and spending, which includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. <\/p>\n