Following the sharp pullback seen over the course of the two previous sessions, treasuries regained some ground during trading on Thursday.
Bond prices pulled back off their best levels in afternoon trading but still closed in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped by 1.5 basis points to 1.265 percent.
The rebound by treasuries came following the release of mixed economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in initial jobless claims in the week ended July 17th.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims climbed to 419,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 368,000.
The rebound surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 350,000 from the 360,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the National Association of Realtors showing existing home sales rebounded in the month of June following four straight monthly declines.
NAR said existing home sales jumped by 1.4 percent to an annual rate of 5.86 million in June after slumping by 1.2 percent to a revised rate of 5.78 million in May.
Economists had expected existing home sales to surge up by 1.7 percent to a rate of 5.90 million from the 5.80 million originally reported for the previous month.
With the monthly increase, existing home sales rebounded after falling to their lowest level in eleven months in May.
The Treasury Department also announced the details of this month’s auctions of two-year, five-year and seven-year notes.
The Treasury revealed it plans to sell $60 billion worth of two-year notes, $61 billion worth of five-year notes and $62 billion worth of seven-year notes.
The results of the two-year note auction will be announced next Monday, the results of the five-year note auction will be announced next Tuesday and the results of the seven-year note auction will be announced next Thursday.
Following the release of some key U.S. economic data this morning, the economic calendar for Friday is relatively quiet.
Market Analysis
Treasuries Regain Ground Following Recent Pullback
2021-07-22 19:14:59
