By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices dropped on Friday, pushing yields to the highest in almost two months, after a government report said that in July the U.S. economy lost the fewest jobs since August.
The data added to evidence that the worst of the recession has past and encouraged investors to seek assets that are riskier than Treasurys.
Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.76, +0.01, +0.24%) rose 11 basis points, or 0.11 percentage point, to 3.86%. The yield touched 3.87%, the highest on a closing basis since June 10, which was the highest this year.
Two-year-note yields (UST2YR 1.19, -0.01, -1.00%) increased 11 basis points to 1.31%, also reaching the highest since early June.
The Labor Department said the U.S. economy lost 247,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 9.4% from 9.5% in June. See more on jobs report.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch predicted payrolls would fall by 275,000 and they expected a 9.7% unemployment rate. Also, payrolls for May and June were revised to reflect less negative numbers.
"Bottom line is the data is good in detail as well as headline, and revisions are in the right direction," said Marc Chandler, a strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. "This will likely strengthen the green-shoots story."
