Treasuries Recover From Early Weakness, Close Firmly Positive

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure early in the session, treasuries showed a notable turnaround over the course of the trading day on Thursday.

Bond prices climbed well off their early lows and firmly into positive territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 4.4 basis points to 3.879 percent after reaching a high of 3.978 percent.

The rebound by treasuries may have reflected bargain hunting, with the turnaround coming after the ten-year yield reached its highest level in over three months.

Traders may also have taken comfort from the perception that the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve weren't more hawkish.

The Fed minutes offered few surprised but reiterated that the central bank will continue to raise interest rates in its battle against inflation.

Meanwhile, bond traders largely shrugged off a Labor Department report showing an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended February 18th.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 192,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 195,000.

The dip surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to inch up to 200,000 from the 194,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to a report on personal income and spending, which includes a reading on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve.