U.S. sovereign bonds amid a wave of "risk-on" sentiment in equity markets and as investors awaited a slew of new data.
Yields have extended gains after hitting multi-week intraday highs during Wednesday's session. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, moved higher to 1.8683 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose to 2.6939 percent.
Oil prices were lower, with WTI settling 2.3 percent lower and Brent falling 2.5 percent. This after both benchmarks closed higher by around 4 percent on Wednesday.
Treasurys
Jobless claims for the week ending April 16 totaled 247,000, well below the expected 264,000.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Fed's Business Outlook index came in at -1.6. Economists expected a drop to 10.0 in April from 12.4 in February.
Leading indicators for March rose 0.2 percent, more than the expected 0.1 percent increase.