Treasuries Close Higher Following Choppy Trading Session

(RTTNews) - Treasuries fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday but managed to sustain their recent upward trend.

Bond prices bounced back and forth across the unchanged line as the day progressed but remained positive going into the close. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped 2.4 basis points to 2.153 percent.

With the modest decrease on the day, the ten-year yield ended the session at its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The higher close by treasuries came amid another sell-off by stocks, with the major averages tumbling to their lowest levels in three months.

The weakness on Wall Street came as Chinese stocks showed another substantial decrease, with the Shanghai Composite Index plunging by more than 7 percent in brief trading.

Chinese trading was halted for the second time this week as a result of the sell-off, which came after the People's Bank of China set the yuan's daily reference rate at the lowest level since April of 2011.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission has subsequently suspended its circuit breaker system amid concerns the system is contributing to the recent volatility.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department released a report showing a smaller than expected pullback in initial jobless claims in the week ended January 2nd.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 277,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 287,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to drop to 272,000.

Jobless claims fell less than expected but still pulled back off the nearly six-month high set in the previous week.

Friday morning, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report.

Employment is expected to climb by 200,000 jobs in December following an increase of 211,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 5.0 percent.

The monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, overshadowing reports on wholesale inventories and consumer credit.