US yields rise after report on Biden's $6 trillion budget

NEW YORK: US Treasury yields rose on Thursday, bolstered by a New York Times report saying President Joe Biden will announce on Friday a $6 trillion budget for 2022, in what analysts said could be the largest spending since World War 1.

The budget figure suggested that the US government will be running deficits of over $1.3 trillion through the next decade, according to the report. The report weighed on Treasury prices because it means the government would have to flood the market with more debt to finance the budget.

Thursday's data on US jobless claims and first-quarter gross domestic product growth also helped extend Treasury yields. Both reports showed the US economy was on a stable path to recovery from the pandemic.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected last week as layoffs subsided, to a seasonally adjusted 406,000 for the week ended May 22, compared to 444,000 in the prior week. That was the lowest since mid-March 2020 and kept claims below 500,000 for three straight weeks.

A separate report from the Commerce Department confirmed US economic growth advanced in the first quarter at a 6.4% annualized rate, the government's second estimate for the first three months of the year. That was unrevised from the estimate reported last month and followed a 4.3% growth rate in the fourth quarter.

Investors are also awaiting the Treasury's sale of $62 billion in 7-year debt later on Thursday, after strong 2-year and 5-year note auctions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In mid-morning trading, the US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.609% from 1.574% late on Wednesday.

US 30-year yields were also up 2.291% from Wednesday's 2.26%.

Ahead of the auction, US 7-year yields were up at 1.261% , compared with 1.23% on Wednesday.