Employment Data Prompts Buying In Bond Market On Friday
Friday, February 02, 2007 4:30:50 PM - The release of weaker-than-expected employment statistics sparked buying in the bond market on Friday. The post-data momentum only lasted through the first few miutes of trading, but yields still finished the day slightly lower.
Bonds saw substantial buying in the first few minutes of trading following the revelation that the U.S. economy added fewer-than-expected jobs in January. There was a reversal in the mid-morning, but yields held below the flat line through the rest of the day. The 10-year yield finished at 4.827%, down 1 basis point on the day.
the U.S. Labor Department said Friday that non-farm payrolls rose 111,000. This was down from the revised 206,000 increase seen in December. Economists had expected an increase of about 150,000 in January. The unemployment rate for the month rose to 4.6%, compared to 4.5% in December.