Treasuries Regain Ground Following Recent Pullback

(RTTNews) - Following the sharp pullback seen over the past few sessions, treasuries regained some ground during trading on Thursday.

Bond prices moved steadily higher throughout much of the day before closing firmly in positive territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 6 basis points to 1.759 percent.

The rebound by treasuries was partly due to weakness on Wall Street, with stocks giving back some ground after posting strong gains in the three previous sessions.

Treasuries may also have benefited from bargain hunting following the steep drop seen over the past few days, which pulled bonds well off their recent highs.

Traders were also digesting some mixed U.S. economic data, including a Labor Department report showing an unexpected drop in weekly jobless claims.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 262,000 in the week ended February 13th from the previous week's unrevised level of 269,000. The drop surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to rise to 275,000.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showed a continued contraction in regional manufacturing activity in the month of February.

The Philly Fed said the diffusion index for current activity rose to a negative 2.8 in February from a negative 3.5 in January, but a negative reading indicates continued weakness in business conditions.

The Conference Board also released a report showing a second straight monthly decrease by its index of leading U.S. economic indicators.

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation in the month of January.