US treasury yields tumble to four-month low as labor market shows signs of further cooling off

The US treasury yields continued to fall on Thursday as weak data on the labor market weighed on the sentiments. The yield was down more than 4 basis points at 4.16%. Bond markets have seen an across-the-board surge in yields this week. On Wednesday, the US 30-year yield briefly hit 5% before easing. The US private payrolls data showed a rise of just 54,000 in August, sliding from 106000 in the last month. Weekly jobless claims increased to 237,000, up 8,000 from the prior week and rising to the highest since June. These data points have set the stage for a tepid nonfarm payrolls data later in the day. Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 73,000 in July, following the 14,000 increase in June. However, unemployment rate edged higher to 4.2% from 4.1%. There were concerns about labor market trends in general though as previous months data was revised lower. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for May was revised down from 144,000 to just 19,000, and for June it was marked down from 147,000 to 14,000. A similar show in today’s data might pull down yields which have sunk to 4.15% today, testing their lowest in four-months.