Treasury yields rose on Thursday as investors weighed the latest unemployment data and awaited remarks from Federal Reserve speakers.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury was last higher by 2 basis points and trading at 3.397%. The 2-year Treasury was trading at 4.118% after rising 4 basis points.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions and one basis point is equivalent to 0.01%.
Treasurys
Initial filings for unemployment insurance fell to their lowest level since late June last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, signaling to investors that the labor market is resilient amid a slowing economy.
Claims totaled a seasonally adjusted 190,000 for the week ending Jan. 14, a decline of 15,000 the previous period. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 215,000.
On Wednesday, December's producer price index report showed that wholesale inflation fell by more than expected on a monthly basis. It declined by 0.5% rather than the 0.1% expected by economists previously surveyed by Dow Jones.
Paired with last week's consumer price index print, which reflected that consumer prices fell by 0.1% in December, some investors are now considering whether the peak of inflation has passed.
The inflation readings could inform whether the central bank will announce another 50 basis point rate hike or slow the pace of increases to 25 basis points at the conclusion of its next meeting on Feb. 1.
Many are hoping for the central bank to slow, or entirely pause, rate hikes this year as the pace of rate increases implemented by the Fed in its fight against high inflation so far has sparked recession fears.
Investors are therefore closely following remarks from Fed speakers, who have painted a mixed picture so far. Boston Fed president Susan Collins is due to make remarks on Thursday.
Investors have been parsing through the latest data and Fed remarks for clues on how high rates will go. But, while recent numbers point to easing inflation, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon thinks rates will top 5%.
"I think there's a lot of underlying inflation, which won't go away so quick," Dimon told CNBC's "Squawk Box" from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.