coronavirus

Treasury Yields Rise After Big Jump in First-Quarter GDP

Source: The New York Stock Exchange

U.S. Treasury yields rose Thursday following the release of strong economic growth data for the first quarter.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note climbed 3 basis points to 1.65%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond rose about 2 basis points to 2.32%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Economic activity surged to start 2021. The U.S. Commerce Department said first-quarter gross domestic product rose 6.4%, compared to the 6.5% expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.

The latest numbers reflect an economy that has made major strides since the 2020 lockdown that sent more than 22 million American workers to the unemployment line and saw GDP plunge an unprecedented 31.4% in Q2 of 2020.

The Labor Department, meanwhile, reported that initial jobless claims last week totaled 553,000, just above the 528,000 estimate issued by Dow Jones.

Investors continued to digest the Federal Reserve's latest policy decision to hold its benchmark interest rates near zero, following a two-day meeting that concluded on Wednesday afternoon.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in a press conference Wednesday, following the meeting, that it was "not time yet" for the central bank to start discussing any changes to its asset purchasing program.

He said it would still be "some time" before there was substantial progress in the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" Thursday, TD Securities chief macro strategist Jim O'Sullivan said the Fed's decision "wasn't a big surprise."

He didn't believe the Fed would start to give any warnings of unwinding its easy policy "in the next meeting or the meeting after that," with TD Securities forecasting that tapering could start to happen from March 2022.

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