By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices crept down on Thursday, pushing yields up, before the government's final auction of the week.
Yields on 10-year notes (UST10Y 3.69, +0.05, +1.24%) rose 1 basis point to 3.71%. Yields move inversely to prices and a basis point is 0.01%.
Yields on 2-year notes (UST2YR 0.88, +0.05, +6.31%) were little changed at 0.88%.
The Treasury Department will accept bids on $16 billion in 30-year bonds (UST30Y 4.64, +0.05, +1.18%) until 1 p.m. Eastern time.
The auction may be more difficult given that it's a holiday in Japan, said strategist at RBS Securities. Also, solid technical support for the long bond is at a much higher yield and recent sales have come at higher yields than traders expected.
The government already sold 3-year notes (UST3YR 1.43, 0.00, 0.00%) and 10-year debt this week.
Traders are also closely watching for details about what the European Union may have planned to help blunt the financial crisis triggered by Greece's large debts. See full story on E.U. and Greece deal.
Treasurys were under pressure after the Labor Department said initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped 43,000 to 440,000 in the latest week, a bigger decline than economists estimated. See story on jobless claims.
"With claims out of the way we have no further data, but of course have our eyes on Greece announcements," said strategists at CRT Capital Group.
