U.S. Treasuries trade flat ahead of initial jobless claims, March employment report

The U.S. Treasuries traded flat Thursday despite expectations of a modest fall in the country’s initial jobless claims, scheduled to be released later in the day.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury hovered around 2.35 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields remained flat at 3.00 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year note fell nearly 1 basis point to 1.24 percent.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 258,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 261,000. The less volatile four-week moving average climbed to 254,250, an increase of 7,750 from the previous week's 246,500. With the increase, the four-week moving average rose to its highest level since reaching 256,250 in the week ended December 24th.

In terms of the economic development, there was not much new in the FOMC minutes, as the FOMC members have already been quite outspoken since the meeting. However, as Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said at the press conference following the meeting, the FOMC participants discussed when to change the current reinvestment strategy.

Further, the minutes suggest quantitative tightening would likely depend on the Fed funds target range or the level of an economic variable (possibly the PCE inflation rate or the unemployment rate, as it was the case with the Evans rule).

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures traded 0.09 percent higher at 2,348.75 by 11:30GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained slightly bullish at 88.95 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex