NEW YORK: US Treasuries were steady on Thursday as equity and oil markets were relatively quiet, and the U.S. Treasury prepared a sale of seven-year notes, the final portion of $88 billion in short- and intermediate-dated supply this week.
Treasuries have largely followed oil moves as tumbling prices this year increase concerns about slowing global growth. The bonds had weakened in the past week on signs that oil and stock prices may be stabilizing, before both assets came under renewed pressure on Tuesday.
"We're focused still on equities and oil, and they are somewhat stabilized," said Charles Comiskey, head of Treasuries trading at Bank of Nova Scotia in New York.
Benchmark 10-year notes were last down 1/32 in price to yield 1.75 percent, after falling as low as 1.65 percent on Wednesday as oil and stock prices declined.
The Treasury is expected to see strong demand for its sale of $28 billion in seven-year notes on Thursday, after fund managers and other investors turned up in force for $26 billion in two-year notes on Tuesday and $34 billion in five-year notes on Wednesday.
Data on Thursday showed that new orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in January rose by the most in 10 months as demand picked up across the board, offering a ray of hope for the downtrodden manufacturing sector.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose last week, but remained below levels consistent with a tightening labor market.
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