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The 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields were virtually unchanged on Thursday, ahead of the virtual Jackson Hole symposium of central bankers and as investors awaited economic reports on employment and a second quarter update on gross domestic product.
Long-dated Treasurys have been holding near their highest yields since around Aug. 12, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
What yields are doing
-
The 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.359%
was yielding 1.341%, compared with 1.342% on Wednesday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. Yields for debt move opposite to price. -
The 2-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD02Y,
0.241%
was yielding 0.238%, versus 0.243% a day ago. -
The 30-year Treasury bond
TMUBMUSD30Y,
1.963%
yields 1.951%, compared with 1.958% on Wednesday.
What’s driving the market?
Yields for long-date debt have gradually drifted higher ahead of the Jackson Hole event where Powell is expected to delivery a key speech on Friday, which could provide some guidance on monetary policy plans.
A specific focus will be on any mention of an unwind of the central bank’s monthly purchases of $120 billion in Treasurys and mortage-backed securities that have been in force since the height of the pandemic-induced disruptions to financial markets back in the spring of 2020.
Ahead of that event on Thursday, investors will parse a report on jobless claims for the period ended Aug. 21, with economists polled by Dow Jones forecasting 350,000 Americans filed for unemployment benefits, compared with 348,000 in the most recent period.
A second reading of second-quarter GDP, the official scorecard of the U.S. economy, also is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Investors may also watch for an auction of $62 billion in 7-year Treasury notes
TMUBMUSD07Y,
at 1 p.m. for its impact on yields.
What analysts are saying
“A fair dose of concern ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium is weighting on bond markets. The 10Y UST yield rose for a second day in a row without any data impulses of top-tier relevance,” wrote analysts at UniCredit in a research note dated Thursday.
