NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bond prices rose Thursday as stocks sold off worldwide amid continued fears over foreign debt problems and an unexpected increase in U.S. jobless claims.
What prices are doing: The benchmark 10-year note gained 24/32 to 98-1/32, pushing the yield down to 3.61% from 3.70% late Wednesday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
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| Click the chart to view other bond prices and yields. |
The 30-year bond added 1-12/32 to trade at 97-4/32 and its yield was 4.55%. The 2-year note ticked up 5/32 to 100-4/32, yielding 0.80%.
What's driving prices: The European Central Bank said it would keep its key interest rate at 1%, and though it expects the euro zone to grow at a moderate pace in 2010 it believes many countries in the area face "large, sharply rising fiscal imbalances."
Those worries weighed on European markets, and that selloff spilled over to U.S. markets. Markets in Europe were down 2% in afternoon trading, and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed 1.8% lower.
U.S. stocks felt the blow, with the Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) losing 200 points, or 1.9%, over 2-1/2 hours into the session. Domestic equities also came under pressure following a report that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose to 480,000 last week, unexpectedly.
On Thursday the government announced three auctions for next week: $24 billion in 3-month bills, $27 billion in 6-month and $26 billion of 1-year.
What analysts are saying: "Global debt problems have been an issue for quite some time, and the problems are not abating," said Kim Rupert, fixed income analyst at Action Economics.
Rupert said bond prices would likely remain in a similar range for the near- to medium-term, pending clearer data from the euro zone. 
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.80% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 3.09% | 3.11% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 2.65% | 2.69% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.77% | 3.86% | |
| 15 yr refi | 3.09% | 3.21% |
Today's featured rates:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,454.83 | -74.92 | -0.60% |
| Nasdaq | 2,837.53 | -1.85 | -0.07% |
| S&P 500 | 1,317.82 | -2.86 | -0.22% |
| Treasuries | 1.74 | -0.01 | -0.80% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.15 | 0.01 | 0.14% |
| Sprint Nextel Corp | 2.62 | 0.09 | 3.56% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 16.33 | -0.06 | -0.37% |
| Chesapeake Energy Co... | 15.81 | 0.23 | 1.48% |
| Ford Motor Co | 10.60 | 0.01 | 0.09% |
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