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)