After recovering from an initial move to the downside, treasuries moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session on Tuesday.
Bond prices climbed well off their early lows and firmly into positive territory. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, slumped by 9.3 basis points to 3.337 percent.
The ten-year yield closed lower for the fourth straight session, falling to its lowest closing level in almost seven months.
The turnaround by treasuries came following the release of a Labor Department report showing job openings in the U.S. decreased by more than expected in the month of February.
The report said job openings fell to 9.9 million in February from a revised 10.6 million in January. Economists had expected job openings to decline to 10.4 million from the 10.8 million originally reported for the previous month.
“February’s JOLTS report is an indication that the softening in the labor market may be gaining some momentum,” said Matthew Martin, U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.
He added, “To be sure, job openings remain highly elevated, but February’s level is the first month below 10k since June 2021 and suggests businesses are becoming more wary about additional headcount.
A separate report released by the Commerce Department showed new orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell by more than expected in the month of February.
Traders also continued to look ahead to the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.
Economists currently expect the report to show employment increased by 240,000 jobs in March after climbing by 311,000 jobs in February. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.6 percent.
Trading on Wednesday may be impacted by reaction to reports on private sector employment, service sector activity and the U.S. trade deficit.
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