2017.03.2315:25:00UTC+00Treasuries Give Back Ground Following Recent Strength

After trending higher over the past several sessions, treasuries gave back some over the course of the trading day on Thursday.

Bond prices initially showed a lack of direction but slid firmly into negative territory as the day progressed. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 2.2 basis points to 2.418 percent.

The pullback by treasuries was partly due to profit taking after recent strength pushed the ten-year yield down to its lowest level in almost a month.

Traders seemed to shrug off the ongoing uncertainty about the fate of the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Hoping to win support for the bill, President Donald Trump purportedly made a "final offer" to a group of conservative Republicans.

Trump's offer reportedly included repealing a requirement that insurance plans cover a number of "essential benefits" such as hospital stays, mental health services and maternity care.

However, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters "no deal" had been reached after a meeting at the White House.

Republicans had been hoping to vote on the bill known as the American Health Care Act on Thursday, but the latest reports suggest the vote could be delayed until at least Friday.

On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended March 18th.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 258,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level of 243,000.

The increase surprised economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 240,000 from the 241,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Meanwhile, a separate report from the Commerce Department showed a substantial increase in new home sales in the month of February.

The report said new home sales spiked by 6.1 percent to an annual rate of 592,000 in February after surging up by 5.3 percent to a revised 558,000 in January. Economists had expected new home sales to climb to a rate of 565,000.

With the much bigger than expected increase, new home sales soared to their highest level since reaching an eight-year high of 622,000 in July.

Additionally, the Treasury Department announced the details of next week's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes.

The Treasury said it plans to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Monday, $34 billion worth of five-year notes next Tuesday, and $28 billion worth of seven-year notes next Wednesday.

Trading on Friday is likely to be impacted by developments on Capitol Hill, particularly if the vote on the Republican healthcare bill is held Thursday night.

A report on durable goods orders in the month of February may also attract attention along with speeches by several Federal Reserve officials.