BOND REPORT: Treasury Yields Tick Higher As Investors Await Jobless Claims, Home Sales

Draghi and Yellen will speak at the Jackson Hole Symposium

Treasury yields rose slightly on Thursday trade as investors handled a raft of economic data before the much-awaited central banker get-together at Jackson Hole, Wyo., where European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen are slated to speak.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose 2.3 basis points to 2.189%. The 2-year note added 1.6 basis point to 1.326%, while the 30-year bond yield edged higher by 0.8 basis point to 2.755%. Bond prices move in the opposite direction of yields.

Traders braced for jobless claims and existing home sales data. Claims on unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 19 are expected to come in at 238,00, based on the median consensus forecast from economists surveyed by MarketWatch. On the back of a weaker-than-expected new home sales (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-home-sales-skid-to-7-month-low-in-july-2017-08-23) number for July, investors will eye existing sales data, a larger and less volatile gauge of appetite for housing, due on 10 a.m.

Aaron Kohli, a fixed-income strategist at BMO Capital Markets, said the sales data should command attention is that it makes up for 34% of the basket of goods tracked to calculate the monthly consumer price inflation number.

"We're watching for any sign of weakness in shelter costs which have been responsible for holding up CPI in the last few months even as other elements weakened," he said.

The focus on the ins-and-outs of inflation have gained importance as central bankers deal with the puzzling absence of price growth amid a global economic recovery. All 45 countries monitored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are set to grow this year, a once-in-a decade move, according to the Wall Street Journal (https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-economies-grow-in-sync-1503507503). Yet inflation in the G-20, a group of the world's largest economies, slipped to 2%, its lowest levels in close to eight years.

It's why market participants will watch the reports coming out of the Kansas Fed's Jackson Hole Economic Symposium where Draghi and Yellen will give speeches. Some hope for further clarification on the inflation outlook, and what factors could be keeping it down with developed central banks such as the ECB on track to normalize monetary policies.

See: Here's what investors will be watching when Draghi, Yellen speak at Jackson Hole (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-what-investors-will-be-watching-when-draghi-yellen-speak-at-jackson-hole-2017-08-22)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 24, 2017 08:29 ET (12:29 GMT)