U.S. Treasuries slide ahead of 10-year auction, initial jobless claims

The U.S. Treasuries traded flat Tuesday ahead of the 10-year auction, scheduled to be held on Wednesday. Also, investors are eyeing the release of initial jobless claims data, scheduled to be released on February 9, besides the 30-year auction due to be held on the same day.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose 1 basis points to 2.42 percent, the super-long 30-year bond yield jumped nearly 2 basis points to 3.06 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year note pushed nearly 1 basis point higher to 1.16 percent.

Initial jobless claims for the week ending January 28 eased to 246k, declining more than expected (Barclays/consensus: 250k). The four-week moving average edged higher, to 248k, mostly on account of the jump in claims in the previous week. Continuing claims for the week ending January 21 also eased, to 2064k from an upwardly revised 2103k.

Further, non-farm payrolls in the U.S. rose in January, coming in above the market expectations. Non-farm payrolls increased 227,000, as compared with the 180,000 projected by market. On the contrary, the jobless rate rose slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 4.8 percent as household employment pulled back in spite of some re-entry to the labor force.

The influx of people into the labor force increased the participation rate by 0.2 percentage points to 62.9 percent sequentially. Several wider measures of joblessness also rose on the increased labor force participation. The employment-ratio was also up by 0.2 percentage points, matching the post-recession high.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Futures rose 6 points or 0.26 percent to trade at 2,292.50 by 11:20GMT, and at 11:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Dollar Strength Index remained neutral at 39.63 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex