NEW YORK--Bond prices took a dive Friday after the Labor Department surprised investors with an unexpectedly strong jobs report.
The price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 1 5/8 point, or $16.25 per $1,000 in face value. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 4.20 percent compared with 4.00 percent late Thursday.
The 30-year Treasury bond fell 2 13/32 point to yield 5.10 percent, up from 4.93 percent a day earlier, according to Moneyline Telerate.
The Labor Department said the nation's unemployment rate stayed at 6.1 percent and businesses added 57,000 jobs in September.
Economists had expected payrolls to be cut by 25,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to rise to 6.2 percent.
Bond prices usually fall on positive economic news, since a growing economy means stocks are more likely to do well and the Federal Reserve is more likely to raise interest rates.
Among shorter maturities, the benchmark 2-year note fell 5/16 point to yield 1.64 percent, up from Thursday's 1.47 percent. Intermediate maturities fell between 9/16 point and 1 15/32 point.
Yields on one-month Treasury bills were 0.85 percent as the discount was unchanged at 0.84 percent. Yields on three-month Treasury bills were 0.93 percent, with the discount unchanged at 0.91 percent. Six-month yields were 1.01 percent, as the discount rose 0.02 percentage point to 0.99 percent.
Yields are the interest bonds pay by maturity, while the discount is the interest at which they are sold.
The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was unchanged from late Thursday at 1.00 percent.
In the tax-exempt market, the Bond Buyer index of 40 actively traded municipal bonds fell 1 3/32 to 109 3/32. The average yield to maturity rose to 5.06 percent from 5.00 percent.
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