U.S. Treasury yields moved higher on Thursday as investors breathed a sigh of relief over the potential for tariff exemptions and awaited key jobs data.
At 5:19 a.m. ET, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed over four basis points to 4.3071%. The 2-year Treasury yield was up just over one basis point to 3.996%.
One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Investors are feeling optimistic about the possibility of future tariff exemptions after The White House announced a one-month delay to tariffs on automakers whose cars comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“Reciprocal tariffs will still go into effect on April 2, but at the request of the companies associated with USMCA, the president is giving them an exemption for one month so they are not at an economic disadvantage,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on behalf of President Donald Trump.
This was after Trump implemented 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico on Tuesday, as well as an additional 10% duty on China. Canada, Mexico, and China have said they will respond with reciprocal measures as a result.
Investors will also be watching the weekly initial jobless claims data on Thursday and the big data release of the week — non-farm payrolls — due on Friday.
Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid said that Treasury yields had moved higher on news of the auto tariff delay.
“Treasuries had earlier seen a sizeable round-trip amid a mixed batch of U.S. data. The 2yr yield traded as low as 3.89% following an underwhelming ADP report of private payrolls for February,” he said in a note Thursday. “So that raised some fears about what the jobs report on Friday might show. But shortly afterwards, yields rebounded as the ISM services index painted a much more positive picture.”
