Treasuries Give Back Ground Following Yesterday's Rally

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved notably lower over the course of the trading day on Thursday, giving back some ground after ending the previous session sharply higher.

After recovering from initial weakness, treasuries moved back to the downside as the day progressed. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, climbed 4.7 basis points to 2.113 percent.

While the ten-year yield partly offset the 7.9 basis point drop seen on Wednesday, it remained below Tuesday's highs.

The weakness among treasuries was partly due to the release of a report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected in the week ended February 14th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 283,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 304,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 290,000.

Analysts have suggested that the recent downtrend by treasuries is primarily due to the strong January jobs report, which has overshadowed concerns about the situation in Greece.

The pullback by treasuries also came after the Treasury Department announced the details of next week's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes.

The Treasury said it plans to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Tuesday, $35 billion worth of five-year notes next Wednesday and $29 billion worth of seven-year notes next Thursday.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showing that its index of regional manufacturing activity unexpectedly fell for the third straight month in February.

Amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, trading on Friday may be driven by any developments regarding the Greek debt negotiations.