The 10-year Treasury yield dipped on Thursday as investors closely monitored speeches from a host of Federal Reserve officials and awaited the release of March nonfarm payrolls on Friday.
The benchmark Treasury rose off the lows of the session, trading 4.8 basis points lower at 4.307%. The 10-year Treasury note yield had briefly touched 4.429% on Wednesday, a new high for the year. The 2-year Treasury note yield traded more than 3 basis points lower at 4.645%, meanwhile.
Yields and prices move in opposite directions. One basis point equals 0.01% or 1/100th of a percent.
Treasurys
The benchmark note dipped after Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Thursday questioned if the central bank should cut rates at all if inflation remained sticky
Data earlier Thursday showed initial jobless claims increased more than expected last week, hitting their highest level since late January. Additional data released by the Commerce Department showed an increase in the trade deficit to $68.9 billion in February, slightly higher than the Dow Jones estimate.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday said it would take a while for policymakers to evaluate the current state of inflation, leaving the timing of potential interest rate cuts uncertain.
"On inflation, it is too soon to say whether the recent readings represent more than just a bump," Powell said in remarks at Stanford University.
The central bank in March held interest rates steady for a fifth consecutive meeting, as expected, keeping its benchmark overnight borrowing rate at 5.25%-5.5%. The Fed also signaled that it still expects three quarter-percentage point cuts by the end of 2024. Interest rate futures, while volatile, still imply a rate cut at the June central bank meeting.
— CNBC's Jeff Cox contributed to this report.