U.S. government debt prices were higher on Thursday as investors digested economic data and looked towards Friday's highly anticipated jobs report.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, sat higher at 1.7416 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 2.4623 percent.
U.S. Markets Overview: Treasurys chart
Friday morning will see the release of September employment data, which should add weight to the case for a interest rate hike sooner rather than later. On the data front Thursday, initial jobless claims fell to 249,000, below the expected 257,000.
"The bottom line remains the same bottom line for a while now. At this point of the economic cycle it is tougher and tougher to find good, qualified employees and thus employers are holding on tight to the ones they currently have. We've also seen that this behavior is not inconsistent with the slowing pace of job hiring's," said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group.
In oil markets, U.S. crude settled at $50.44, a four-month high.
—CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
