2018.05.3115:20:00UTC+00Treasuries Close Moderately Higher Following Volatile Session

Treasuries fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday before ending the day moderately higher.

Bond prices moved back and forth across the unchanged line but moved to the upside going into the close. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, fell by 2 basis points to 2.822 percent.

The higher close by treasuries following news the Trump administration plans to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told reporters the tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports will take effect at midnight.

The move to impose the tariffs represents the latest in a series of protectionist moves by President Donald Trump and has drawn threats of retaliation by some of the major U.S. allies.

In U.S. economic news, a day ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing a bigger than expected decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended May 26th.

The report said initial jobless claims fell to 221,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 234,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to dip to 228,000.

Personal income in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of April, according to a separate report released by the Commerce Department, while personal spending climbed by more than anticipated.

The Commerce Department said personal income rose by 0.3 percent in April after edging up by 0.2 percent in March. The increase in income matched economist estimates.

Meanwhile, the report said personal spending climbed by 0.6 percent in April following a 0.5 percent increase in the previous month. Spending had been expected to rise by 0.4 percent.

The National Association of Realtors also released a report unexpectedly showing a sharp decrease in pending home sales in the month of April.

NAR said its pending home sales index tumbled by 1.3 percent to 106.4 in April after rising by 0.6 percent to 107.2 in March. Economists had expected pending home sales to increase by 0.4 percent.

A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale.

Trading on Friday may be impacted by reaction to the Labor Department's closely watched report on employment in the month of May.

The report is expected to show an increase of about 188,000 jobs in May following the addition of 164,000 jobs in April. The unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.9 percent.

The jobs data may overshadow separate reports on manufacturing activity in May and construction spending in April.