Treasuries Close Moderately Lower Following Choppy Trading Session

(RTTNews) - Treasuries fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday before eventually ending the day moderately lower.

After spending the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, bond prices closed in the red. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.6 basis points to 1.742 percent.

With the increase on the day, the ten-year yield closed higher for the fifth consecutive session, reaching its highest closing level in four months.

The choppy trading seen as the day progressed came as traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Employment is expected to increase by 168,000 jobs in September after climbing by 151,000 jobs in August. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.9 percent.

The strength of the jobs data could impact the outlook for monetary policy, although the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting in November.

The Labor Department released a report this morning unexpectedly showing a modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended October 1st.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 249,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000. The modest decline came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 256,000.

With the unexpected decrease, jobless claims fell to their lowest level since hitting a more than four decade low in mid-April.

While the monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, trading could also be impacted by reaction to speeches from several Federal Reserve officials.