U.S. Treasuries slump ahead of initial jobless claims, February trade balance

The U.S. Treasuries slumped Thursday ahead of the country’s initial jobless claims and trade balance for the month of February, scheduled to be released today by 12:30GMT respectively.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasuries jumped nearly 3-1/2 basis points to 2.82 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yields also climbed close to 3-1/2 basis points to 3.06 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year traded nearly 1-1/2 basis points higher at 2.30 percent by 11:25GMT.

The final US trade report for February looks set to show a widening of the deficit of close to $1bn to approximately $57.5bn, with a narrowing of the services surplus likely to accompany the broadly stable goods deficit flagged by the preliminary report.

Overall, the data are set to suggest that net trade likely again subtracted from GDP growth in Q1, a trend that – notwithstanding question marks about the direction of the dollar – risks remaining the norm over the coming couple of years given the path of fiscal policy, regardless of what the Trump administration does in terms of its trade policy. Also due today are the March Challenger job cuts figures and, of course, the usual weekly claims data.

In addition, ahead of Fridaylaborour market report, the ADP employment change figure will be watched. And February’s factory orders report will also be released, with the already reported increase of 3.1 percent m/m in bookings for durable goods likely to account for most of the increase in the headline figure.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures rose 0.45 percent to 2,659.00 by 11:30GMT, while at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at -35.73 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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