Treasury yields slumped on Friday morning, after Russian forces seized a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped 5 basis points to 1.7940% at 4:30 a.m. ET. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell 3 basis points to 2.1928%. Yields move inversely to prices and 1 basis point is equal to 0.01%.
Russia continues to escalate its invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces attacked Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant early on Friday morning, causing a fire to break out at an adjacent training facility.
Ukraine’s nuclear agency said Russian military forces have taken control of the facility.
Leaders internationally have condemned the attack and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the attack.
While investors continue to monitor developments on the war in Ukraine, key economic data updates are also in focus.
The Labor Department is due to release its February job report at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday morning.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect growth of 440,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate to tick down to 3.9%. Hourly wages are projected to grow 5.8% year over year.
This is the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve’s next meeting, where the central bank is expected to begin hiking interest rates. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that he is leaning toward supporting a single 25-basis point hike in March.
Peter Oppenheimer, chief global strategist at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Friday that he believed gradually raising interest rates would remain a priority for central banks, “particularly in the U.S. which is less affected directly from the energy price surges.”
Oppenheimer said it’s also worth noting that private sector balance sheets are quite strong and “that does to some extent soften the negative shock from higher interest rates and greater uncertainty onto the real economy.”
There are no auctions scheduled to be held on Friday.
— CNBC.com staff contributed to this market report.
