### Treasuries Experience Downtrend Amid Economic Data and Auction Results
Extending the pullback observed over the preceding two sessions, treasury bonds continued their downward trajectory on Thursday.
Initially, bond prices demonstrated strength but gradually declined into negative territory as the day unfolded. Consequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves inversely to its price, increased by 2.9 basis points to reach 3.997%.
This rise marks the ten-year yield's ongoing recovery after hitting its lowest levels since late December on Monday.
The sustained weakness in treasuries followed the Labor Department's report, which indicated that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than anticipated in the week ending August 3rd.
According to the report, initial jobless claims dropped to 233,000, reflecting a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 250,000.
Economists had forecasted a slight decline in jobless claims to 240,000 from the originally reported 249,000 for the previous week.
This larger-than-expected drop comes a week after jobless claims reached their highest level since hitting 258,000 during the week ending August 5, 2023.
Further compounding the downward pressure on treasuries, the Treasury Department disclosed that its sale of $25 billion in thirty-year bonds this month attracted modestly below-average demand.
The thirty-year bond auction yielded a high rate of 4.314% with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.31, falling short of the average bid-to-cover ratio of 2.38 seen in the previous ten thirty-year bond auctions.
The bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, indicates the number of bids received for each dollar of securities sold.
Looking ahead, trading activity in the bond market may remain somewhat subdued on Friday due to the absence of significant U.S. economic data releases.
