Treasury yields rose to their highest levels in roughly a decade and a half on Friday in Asia in the wake of strong US employment data that analysts said would bolster the case for further interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve.
Yields on the 10-year US Treasury rose as much as 0.04 percentage points to 4.2663 per cent, climbing above 4.25 per cent for the first time since June 2008. Meanwhile, the 2-year US Treasury yield climbed as much as 0.02 percentage points to a fresh 15-year high of 4.6335 per cent.
US labour market data released on Thursday showed unemployment claims had fallen last week from 226,000 to 214,000, while economists polled by Reuters had expected a rise to 230,000.
Analysts said the robust job market reading would reinforce expectations that the Fed would continue with aggressive monetary policy tightening.
Economists at Citigroup led by Isfar Munir said that US jobless claims “remain anchored to low levels and are indicative of a tight labour market”, adding that if next Friday’s quarterly reading for the US employment cost index confirmed stronger wage inflation, it would “keep the Fed firmly grounded in its hawkish stance.”
Elsewhere in markets, the pound sterling was off 0.4 per cent at $1.1192 as traders grappled with the ramifications of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s resignation on Thursday.
Futures pointed to a 0.4 per cent loss for the FTSE 100 when trading begins in London, while the S&P 500 was tipped to shed 0.3 per cent later in the day.