Treasuries Give Back Ground After Early Move To The Upside

(RTTNews) - Treasuries moved to the upside early in the session on Thursday but gave back ground over the course of the trading day.

Bond prices pulled back well off their highs of the session and into negative territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.9 basis points to 4.394 percent.

The downturn by treasuries may partly have reflected profit taking after the ten-year yield hit a nearly one-month intraday low of 4.318 percent.

Treasuries also moved to the downside after President Donald Trump confirmed in a post on Truth Social that he had an approximately 90-minute phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump described the phone call with his Chinese counterpart as "very good" and said it "resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries."

The president also said the two countries' teams will be "meeting shortly at a location to be determined" and noted the conversation was focused "almost entirely" on trade.

The phone call between Trump and Xi comes following recent signs of rising tensions between the U.S. and China over the trade agreement reached last month.

However, traders seemed somewhat reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Economists currently expect employment to increase by 130,000 jobs in May after jumping by 177,000 jobs in April, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 4.2 percent.

The data could have a significant impact on the outlook for the economy following yesterday's weaker than expected reports on private sector employment and service sector activity.

With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming, the Labor Department released a report this morning showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly increased in the week ended May 31st.

The Labor Department's monthly jobs report is likely to be in the spotlight on Friday, although any developments on the trade front may also attract attention.