MW: Treasury yields fall after data shows rise in jobless claims
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices gained Thursday, sending yields lower, after data showed that initial jobless claims rose sharply in the latest week.
Ten-year Treasury note yields (UST10Y 3.30, +0.01, +0.30%) dropped 3 basis points to 3.279%. Yields move inversely to prices.
"Yields remained on a lower track following the uptick in jobless claims and generally as-expected personal income report, while stocks have extended their pre-market losses as the data has turned more mixed again this week," said analysts at Action Economics.
"There is plenty more to come in terms of Fed speak and data on a busy Thursday before the payrolls report tomorrow," they said.
First-time filings for state unemployment benefits rose sharply in the latest week after three straight weekly declines. Read more.
For the week ended Sept. 26, initial claims rose 17,000 to 551,000, according to data released Thursday. This is the highest level since prior to the Labor Day holiday.
In other economic news, U.S. consumer spending increased 1.3% in August, the fastest increase since the post-9/11 shopping binge eight years ago, the Commerce Department estimated Thursday.
Stock-index futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street. Coming at 10 a.m. is the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing gauge for September, pending home sales for August and construction spending for August.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be testifying on financial regulation, and, after the close, two more Fed speakers will discuss the economy.
The government will release on Friday eagerly awaited data on non-farm payrolls for September. Economists are expecting a decline of 167,000 in nonfarm payroll jobs.
