Treasury yields pared earlier gains and traded near the flatline as a weaker-than-expected reading of jobless claims showed signs of a slowdown in labor market recovery due to the worsening pandemic.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was little changed at 1.106%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also flat at 1.821%. Yields move inversely to prices.
First-time filings for unemployment insurance jumped to 965,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones were looking for 800,000 new claims, up slightly from the 787,000 the week before.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected on Thursday evening to unveil a stimulus plan that will include a boost to the recent $600 direct payments, an extension of increased unemployment insurance and support for state and local governments. The stimulus could be as big as $2 trillion, CNN reported.
Yields were higher despite continued political turmoil in the U.S., after House members on Wednesday voted to impeach incumbent President Donald Trump for a second time for inciting the riot on the U.S. Capitol last week.
Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, is expected to make a speech at 11 a.m. ET.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan at 1 p.m. ET.
