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U.S. Treasury yields were mostly marginally lower on Thursday as investors parsed data to cap the final days of 2021 amid signs that the impact of the omicron variant on the economy is muted.
The bond market will close an hour early at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday in observance of the New Year’s holiday.
What are yields doing?
-
The 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.528%
yields 1.536%, versus 1.542% at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. Yields for debt fall as prices rise and vice versa. -
The 2-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD02Y,
0.750%
rate was at 0.754% , compared with 0.748% a day ago. -
The 30-year Treasury
TMUBMUSD30Y,
1.938% ,
aka long bond, was yielding 1.944% , versus 1.954% on Wednesday afternoon.
What’s driving the market?
Treasurys of longer maturities may be seeing some end of month, quarter and year buying as 2021 winds down. That activity may be helping to anchor yields, even though trading is expected to be thin in the week’s final sessions.
Meanwhile, cases of COVID-19 infections set a single-day record, with 441,278 new cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That far surpasses the previous daily record of 294,015 set last January. And daily new cases in the U.S. also were at a record seven-day average of more than 265,000, as of Tuesday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Gains in stocks imply that investors aren’t overly concerned about the omicron variant of the disease that causes COVID-19 because of evidence that symptoms are milder than other strains of the pathogen. Indeed, data continues to point to limited, if any, damage to recent economic trends.
About 198,000 applied for U.S. unemployment benefits during Christmas week, leaving new jobless claims near a 52-year low amid the biggest labor shortage in decades. Initial jobless claims fell slightly from a revised 206,000 two weeks ago, based on new government data. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had forecast new claims to total a seasonally adjusted 205,000.
Looking ahead, fixed-income investors are awaiting a report on Chicago PMI’s due at 9:45 a.m.
There will be no data on Friday in observance of the New Year’s Day holiday.
