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Bond Report: Treasury yields tick higher ahead of economic data, Fed speakers

Treasury yields edge higher Thursday ahead of a raft of economic data and several speeches by the Federal Reserve. Read More...

Treasury yields edged higher on Thursday ahead of a raft of economic data and several speeches by the Federal Reserve, as investors eye signs of progress between U.S.-China trade talks.

The 10-year Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y, +0.58%   rose 0.4 basis point to 2.483%. The 2-year note yield TMUBMUSD02Y, +1.06%   was up 0.9 basis point to 2.336%, while the 30-year bond yield TMUBMUSD30Y, +0.55%   was virtually unchanged at 2.905%. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said China was close to agreeing to an enforcement mechanism for the trade deal, one of the major sticking points in negotiations thus far. Analysts attribute the inability of bond yields to bounce back this year to the cloud of uncertainty over U.S.-China trade relations, which has helped dampen business optimism and global growth.

“News like this should hearten the optimists, especially on Europe, where the soft patch has manifested itself more in ‘trade’ and ‘manufacturing,” wrote analysts at Macquarie.

In economic data, investors will see jobless claims and wholesale prices numbers at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits for the seven days ending in April 6 is expected to rebound to 210,000, from a multidecade low of 202,000 in the previous week. March’s producer price index is forecast to increase by 0.3%, from 0.1% in February,

Several officials from the Federal Reserve will speak on Thursday. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida will speak at 9:30 a.m., followed by New York Fed President John Williams at 9:35 a.m., and then St. Louis Fed President James Bullard at 9:40 a.m.

Later in the afternoon, investors will take down the last debt auction of the week, with $17 billion of 30-year bonds set to go on the block at 1 p.m. Fresh influxes of debt supply can influence trading in the outstanding bond market.

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