U.S. government debt prices rose Thursday morning after investors welcomed a new batch of positive economic data.
At around 4:00 p.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was down at 2.667% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 2.9656%. Yields move inversely to prices.
On the data front, initial jobless claims rose to 260,000 for the week ended July 30, in line with estimates from the Dow Jones. The latest reading comes ahead of the big jobs report Friday.
Data released Wednesday showed a surprise rebound in the U.S. services sector in July and solid factory orders, which eased concerns over the U.S. economy and pushed stocks higher on the day.
On Thursday, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester reiterated that the central bank plans to raise interest rates to combat high inflation. That echoed comments on from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who told CNBC Wednesday that he doesn’t think the U.S. is in a recession and that the central bank will continue to raise rates to deal with inflation.
“As the chair said, we’re not in recession right now,” Bullard said during a “Squawk Box” interview. “With all the job growth in the first half of the year, it’s hard to say that there was a recession.”
