Treasury yields are flat as investors digest jobless claims data

Treasury yields traded near the flatline Thursday morning as investors digested new data on weekly jobless claims.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury turned flat at 4.581% after jumping 5 basis points above the 4.6% level. The 2-year Treasury traded 1 basis points lower at 4.329%.

One basis point is equal to 0.01%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Jobless claims totaled 219,000 for the week ending Dec. 21, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The number came just 1,000 below the previous period and less than the 225,000 consensus forecast from Dow Jones.

However, continuing claims, which run a week behind, rose to 1.91 million, an increase of 46,000 and the highest level since Nov. 13, 2021.

The benchmark 10-year rate has climbed more than 40 basis points this month. The bulk of the advance came after the Federal Reserve pared down rate-cut projections, indicating only two more interest rate cuts in 2025, down from the four potential cuts penciled in during September.