Treasury prices fall after economic data dump

chart_ws_bond_10yearyield.top.pngClick chart for more bonds data. By Charles Riley, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Treasury prices drifted lower Thursday as the holiday-shortened trading week was capped by a wave of economic reports.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year note increased to 3.39%. The 30-year bond yield ticked up to 4.47%.

Meanwhile, the yield on the 2-year note increased to 0.66%, and the 5-year note pushed up to 2.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Before the opening bell, the Commerce Department reported that personal income rose 0.3% and personal spending rose 0.4% in November. The results were mixed, compared to expectations.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor announced that initial jobless claims fell 3,000 to 420,000 in the week ended Dec. 18. Claims were expected to have edged up to 424,000.

Slightly worse than expected reports on durable goods orders and new home sales added to what investors had to sort through.

With markets closed on Friday, trading desks were understaffed. Even so, the market reacted as expected to the mixed economic reports, said William Larkin, portfolio manager at Cabot Money Management.

"Lots of economic data out today," Larkin said. "But it's basically all expressing the same trend of incremental economic improvement."

That's bad news for the bond market, as confident investors often flee safe-haven Treasuries in favor of riskier investments.

When investors return from the holiday, they will face a wave of new supply, as the Treasury Department is scheduled to auction $99 billion in notes next week. To top of page

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