NEW YORK--Bond prices fell Thursday after the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment insurance fell last week to their lowest level in eight months.
The price of the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 13/32 point, or $4.06 per $1,000 in face value. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, rose to 4.30 percent compared with 4.24 percent late Wednesday.
The 30-year Treasury bond fell 11/16 point to yield 5.22 percent, up from 5.17 percent a day earlier, according to Moneyline Telerate.
Earlier in the day, the unemployment report sent 10-year yields above 4.30 percent for the first time since early September.
For the work week ending Oct. 4, new applications for jobless benefits declined by a seasonally adjusted 23,000 to 382,000, the best performance since Feb. 8 and a better showing than analysts forecast. They had predicted claims would decrease to 395,000 last week.
Fewer jobless claims indicate an improving economy, which would benefit stocks rather than bonds.
In other trading, the benchmark 2-year note fell 1/32 point, to yield 1.64 percent, up from Wednesday's 1.63 percent. Intermediate maturities fell between 1/16 point and 9/32 point.
Yields on one-month Treasury bills were 0.89 percent as the discount rose 0.02 percentage point to 0.87 percent. Yields on three-month Treasury bills were 0.90 percent as the discount was unchanged. Six-month yields also held steady at 1.00 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 Wednesday at 1.00 percent.
In the tax-exempt market, the Bond Buyer index of 40 actively traded municipal bonds fell 5/8 to 108 3/8. The average yield to maturity rose to 5.11 percent from 5.07 percent.
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