NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bond prices ticked higher Thursday after the government released mixed economic reports and Congress continued its march toward extending tax cuts.
"There has been a preponderance of selling in the past few weeks. I think right now the market seems to be taking somewhat of a breather," said Kenneth Naehu, managing director and head of fixed income at Bel Air Investment Advisors.
Bond prices fell early in the trading session after government reports on unemployment insurance and new housing starts were released
The number of people filing for initial unemployment benefits fell 3,000 to 420,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department said. But continuing claims -- those workers who have filed unemployment claims for their second week or more -- were up 22,000 to 4.13 million.
Meanwhile, government figures showed housing starts ticked up to a 555,000 annual rate in November, better than the 545,000 starts that economists were expecting, and 3.9% above revised October figures.
The better than expected initial claims and housing start headline numbers sent yields higher, but that trend reversed by mid-day as yields dropped in afternoon trading. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Bond yields have been marching steadily higher since mid-October, pushing the benchmark ten-year yield to seven-month highs.
"We are still at relatively low yields," Naehu said. "We've gone back to where we've been. I would say this is a correction to a more normalized level."
In Washington, the House of Representatives appeared set to approve the controversial $858 billion tax deal largely negotiated by the White House and top Senate Republicans. That might have sent yields higher, but Naehu said that since the deal has long been expected, the effect on markets might be mitigated.
"The market is searching for news and reasons why its moving, but it would be a stretch to believe traders have not factored that [tax cut deal] in," Naehu said.
What yields are doing:
The yield on the 10-year benchmark note slipped to close at 3.44%. The yield on the 30-year bond dropped to 4.55% .
The 2-year was decreased to 0.65% and the 5-year yield closed at 2.05%.
Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
---|---|---|---|
30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.88% | |
15 yr fixed | 3.20% | 3.23% | |
5/1 ARM | 3.84% | 3.88% | |
30 yr refi | 3.82% | 3.93% | |
15 yr refi | 3.20% | 3.23% |
Today's featured rates:
Index | Last | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Dow | 32,627.97 | -234.33 | -0.71% |
Nasdaq | 13,215.24 | 99.07 | 0.76% |
S&P 500 | 3,913.10 | -2.36 | -0.06% |
Treasuries | 1.73 | 0.00 | 0.12% |
Company | Price | Change | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Ford Motor Co | 8.29 | 0.05 | 0.61% |
Advanced Micro Devic... | 54.59 | 0.70 | 1.30% |
Cisco Systems Inc | 47.49 | -2.44 | -4.89% |
General Electric Co | 13.00 | -0.16 | -1.22% |
Kraft Heinz Co | 27.84 | -2.20 | -7.32% |
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