Bonds

US Treasurys mixed after ECB decision, data

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U.S. government debt prices were mixed on Thursday after the European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged, as investors digested last night's third and final presidential debate.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, sat slightly higher near 1.75 percent, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was lower, at 2.50 percent. The yields on the 5-year Treasury note and the 2-year Treasury note rose, however.

The decision to keep policy unchanged was expected by nearly all 71 analysts polled by Reuters, even as the vast majority of them still expect the ECB to extend the bond buying program when the Governing Council next meets in December.

Facing high unemployment, weak growth and ultra low inflation, the ECB has provided extraordinary stimulus in recent years, cutting interest rates deep into negative territory and pushing the cost of credit to all-time lows, hoping to jump start growth.


Treasurys


Although inflation reached a two-year high of 0.4 percent in September and will continue rising in the coming months, it will not hit the ECB's close to 2 percent target until late 2018 or early 2019, according to the bank's forecasts.

ECB President Mario Draghi said in a news conference the central bank will preserve very substantial amount of monetary policy support as risks remain to the downside.

Investors also digested the final U.S. presidential debate, as market strategists generally said it helped Hillary Clinton maintain her lead over Donald Trump.

In U.S. economic news, existing home sales rose 3.2 percent last month to a seasonably adjusted rate of 5.47 million, their highest since June. Leading indicators for September, meanwhile rose 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims rose by 13,000 to 260,000, but notched their 85th straight week coming in below 300,000, the longest period since 1970. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Business Index for October came in at 9.7, below September's 12.8.

—Reuters contributed to this report.