By David Randall
NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields moved
higher Thursday after economic data that suggested that the U.S.
labor market remains strong.
The number of Americans filing initial claims for
unemployent benefits, known as jobless claims, totalled 202,000
last week, lower than consensus estimates of 216,000, according
to the Labor Department. New state unemployment benefit claims
rose by 12,000 last week to 218,000.
At the same time, U.S. private employers hired more workers
than expected in December, according to the ADP National
Employment Report. Private payrolls increased by 164,000 jobs
last month, the largest monthly increase since August.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was up 8.2
basis points to 3.989%.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was
up 8.1 basis points
to
4.138
%.
The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically
moves in step with interest rate expectations, was up 5.4 basis
points at 4.372%.
January 4 Thursday 8:35AM New York / 1335 GMT
Price Current Net
Yield % Change
(bps)
Three-month bills 5.24 5.398 -0.001
Six-month bills 5.055 5.274 -0.003
Two-year note 99-198/256 4.37 0.052
Three-year note 100-168/256 4.135 0.065
Five-year note 99-10/256 3.9642 0.072
Seven-year note 98-136/256 3.9929 0.081
10-year note 104-32/256 3.9893 0.082
20-year bond 106-16/256 4.2929 0.081
30-year bond 110-124/256 4.1351 0.078
(Reporting by David Randall, Editing by William Maclean)