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Treasury yields were steady on Thursday, the last trading session of the year as investors braced for the final piece of U.S. economic data in 2020.
The bond-market will end business early at 2 p.m. ET Thursday, and remain closed on Friday for the New Year holiday.
What are Treasurys doing?
The 10-year Treasury note yield TMUBMUSD10Y, 0.914% was at 0.926%, while the 2-year note rate TMUBMUSD02Y, 0.117% was down 0.4 basis point to 0.123%. The 30-year bond yield TMUBMUSD30Y, 1.648% was up 0.2 basis point to 1.664%.
Bond-market activity was limited in holiday-thinned trading, with investors eyeing U.S. labor-market data due for release.
Initial weekly claims for jobless benefits are due at 8:30 a.m. ET, and is expected to show an increase in claims to 835,000 in the seven-day period ending in Dec. 26 from 803,000 the previous comparable week.
Treasurys are set to end a chaotic year that has seen the 10-year Treasury yield plummet to all-time lows, and then steadily rebound. Analysts now forecast a gradual rise in the benchmark bond yield as the economy normalizes, but an accommodative Federal Reserve is likely to cap yields.
See: Wall Street forecasters see the ‘gradual reflation story’ lifting bond yields in 2021
What did market participants say?
” Many global markets have already closed for the end of the year, leaving investors time to practice typing 2021 and stand by just in case the year has one last surprise. So far, the coast is clear with stocks flat and bonds waiting for the latest jobless claims report,” said Jim Vogel, an interest-rate strategist at FHN Financial.
