Bonds Rise Following Economic Data On Thursday Morning, Thursday, May 10, 2007 9:17:08 AM

The release of economic news caused bonds to move higher during the first few minutes of Thursday`s session, sending treasury yields lower. The early buying came on the release of a wider trade gap and less-than-expected jobless claims.

The 10-year yield dropped following the early release of the economic data, reversing some of the gains that were posted Wednesday after the release of the Fed statement. Despite the decline, the yield remained in a trading range it has seen over the past three weeks. By 9:15 am Eastern Time, the 10-year yield was down 1.4 basis points at 4.652%.

The U.S. Commerce Department revealed Thursday that the trade deficit widened in March to a level of $63.9 billion. This compared to revised reading of $57.9 billion in the previous month and marked the largest shortfall since last September.

Jobless claims came in better than expected for the week ending March 12. Economists predicted the level to increase slightly to 315,000, when they actually decreased by 9,000 to 297,000 for the week.

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