U.S. government debt prices were slightly higher on Thursday as investors looked ahead to key employment data set for release Friday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury notes sat slightly lower at 2.221 while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond slipped to 2.797 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
Treasurys
The U.S. Labor Department is scheduled to release its monthly jobs report. Economists polled by Reuters expect the U.S. economy to have added 183,000 jobs last month.
Leading up to Friday's data release, jobless claims came in at 240,000, just below the expected 242,000. U.S. employment data are a key metric for investors as they play a large role in the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision making.
Other data released Thursday included the IHS Markit Services PMI Index hit 54.7 in July, which rose slightly from June. But the ISM nonmanufacturing index showed growth in the services sector slowed last month.
Treasury yields fell Wednesday after the Treasury Department said will borrow $96 billion in the third quarter and has begun to consider how it will increase debt issuance later in the year to make up for a future decline in Federal Reserve bond purchases. It gave no further immediate information on its consideration of introducing ultra-long bonds.
In Washington, Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation, impaneled a grand jury in Washington, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The move means the probe is intensifying and could drag on for many more months to come. Following the Journal's report, bonds yields ticked lower.
"I would argue maybe this has been percolating a little bit," said Aaron Kohli, fixed income strategist at BMO.
"We're definitely going out on the lows in terms of yield. That's because of uncertainty and if this news was known earlier, it probably explains the moves we had earlier today."
In oil markets, Brent was trading lower at $51.93 and WTI at $48.94. Data out on Wednesday showed U.S. crude, gasoline and diesel inventories down in the last week as demand for gasoline hit a new high.
—Reuters contributed to this report.