Treasuries Move Notably Higher Amid Sell-Off On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, more than offsetting the pullback seen in the previous session.

Bond prices moved steadily higher for much of the session before closing firmly positive. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, tumbled by 6.4 basis points to 1.691 percent.

With the sizable decrease on the day, the ten-year yield dropped to its lowest closing level in almost two months.

Treasuries benefited from substantial weakness that was visible on Wall Street, with stocks giving back ground after moving notably higher on Wednesday.

Traders also moved money into the relative safety of bonds amid concerns about the outlook for global economic growth.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing a bigger than expected drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended April 2nd.

The report said jobless claims fell to 267,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 276,000. Economists had expected claims to edge down to 272,000.

Later in the day, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to participate in a conversation with former Fed chairs Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker.

Any significant remarks from the panel discussion could impact trading on Friday amid a relatively quiet day on the U.S. economic front.

The Commerce Department is due to release its report on wholesale trade in the month of February, but the data does not typically impact the markets.