U.S. government bond yields rose Friday after Labor Department data showed the unemployment rate declined to its lowest level since the pandemic took hold.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note finished Friday’s session at 1.288%, according to Tradeweb. That’s up from 1.217% at Thursday’s close and snaps five straight weeks of declines.
The 30-year Treasury yield jumped to 1.933% Friday, from 1.862% Thursday.
Yields, which rise as bond prices fall, had already edged higher in early morning trading. They then extended gains after data showed that U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 943,000 jobs in July. That beat the 845,000 estimate by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.4% in July, below economists’ expectations of a 5.7% rate.