U.S. government bond yields rose Friday after Labor Department data showed the unemployment rate declined to its lowest level since the pandemic took hold.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note recently traded at 1.291%, according to Tradeweb, up from 1.217% at Thursday’s close. The 30-year Treasury yield was trading at 1.936%, up from 1.862% Thursday.
Yields, which rise as bond prices fall, had already edged higher in early morning trading. They then extended gains after data showed that U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 943,000 jobs in July. That beat the 845,000 estimate by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in July, below economists’ expectations of a 5.7% rate.
Some analysts and investors said Friday’s data should ease concerns about the economic outlook. Previous jobs reports had shown U.S. employers adding a decent number of jobs, they said, but not enough to signal the labor market was healing at an accelerating pace.
