Bonds Steady as Stocks Stage Turnaround

Treasury debt prices were little changed Thursday, paring earlier gains as stocks climbed amid assurances from a bond insurer that it has enough cash to cover its near-term needs.

Stocks in bond insurers climbed after the chief financial officer for MBIA Inc said the company has sufficient cash on hand to cover its needs over a two-year period, and that rumors it may be insolvent in the near term were without merit.

Shares in MBIA and other bond insurers have been hit hard recently by worries over downgrades in the industry, which guarantees over $2.4 trillion of debt.

"Stocks and bonds are reacting to the positive talk coming out of the MBIA conference call," said Andrew Brenner, analyst at MF Global in New York.

Benchmark 10-year notes were trading unchanged in price for a yield of 3.64 percent.

Earlier in the day, Treasury debt prices jumped after a surge in weekly jobless claims added to worries about a slowing economy.