See also
After ending yesterday's choppy session roughly flat, treasuries showed a notable move to the downside during trading on Thursday.
Bond prices came under pressure over the course of morning trading and remained firmly negative throughout the afternoon. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 5.4 basis points to 4.231 percent.
The weakness among treasuries came amid a rally on Wall Street, with upbeat earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META) helping lift the tech-heavy Nasdaq to its best levels in over a month.
Optimism about possible trade deals also reduced the safe haven appeal of treasuries, with President Donald Trump telling a NewsNation town hall on Wednesday that he has "potential" trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan.
Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off some disappointing U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by much more than expected in the week ended April 26th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 241,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 224,000 from the 222,000 originally reported for the previous week.
The Institute for Supply Management also released a report showing a slight decrease by its reading on U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of April.
The ISM said its manufacturing PMI edged down to 48.7 in April after slipping to 49.0 in March, with a reading below 50 indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to dip to 48.0.
Trading on Friday is likely to be driven by reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report for April.
Economists currently expect employment to jump by 130,000 jobs in April after surging by 228,000 jobs in March, while the unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 4.2 percent.
