U.S. government debt prices continued to climb Thursday morning ahead of the next round of unemployment claims figures, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hammer the labor market.
At around 2:50 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was lower at 0.6202% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was down at 1.3157%. Yields move inversely to prices.
New jobless claims numbers for last week are due at 8:30 a.m. ET, with 33.5 million Americans having already filed for unemployment over the last seven weeks, sending the unemployment rate to a post-World War II high of 14.7%.
Yields began their decline on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned of “significant downside risks” from the coronavirus pandemic and suggested that the path ahead is “highly uncertain.”
His comments came as several states began to reopen their economies despite warnings from health officials, including the government’s top public health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Data released Wednesday also showed U.S. producer prices dropped more sharply than expected in April, in another warning sign over the impact of pandemic-induced shutdowns on the economy.
Alongside jobless claims, import and export prices for April are due for publication at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday.
Auctions will be held Thursday for $80 billion of 4-week Treasury bills and $70 billion of 8-week bills.
