Treasuries Close Higher For Second Consecutive Session
(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved to the upside during trading on Thursday, adding to the gains posted in the previous sessions.
Bond prices gave back ground after an early advance but still closed in positive territory. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell 2.3 basis points to 4.141 percent.
The ten-year yield closed lower for the second straight session after ending Tuesday's trading at its highest closing level in over two months.
The strength among treasuries came as traders continued to digest the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
While the Fed cut rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, officials' projections showed significant differences of opinion about further rate cuts.
Treasuries may also have benefited from their appeal as a safe haven after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by more than expected in the week ended December 6th.
The report said initial jobless claims rose to 236,000, an increase of 44,000 from the previous week's revised level of 192,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 220,000 from the 191,000 originally reported for the previous week.
