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Treasuries fell, with benchmark yields climbing with U.S. equity indexes, as traders digest the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's March meeting and await March payrolls data.
The benchmark 10-year yield rose three basis points to 2.37 percent at 11:46 a.m. in New York, the highest of the trading session, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader data.
The yield spread between five- and 30-year yields is the widest in more than a month, as the Treasuries curve extended its longest stretch of steepening since September.
The FOMC's minutes suggested the central bank might begin to stop reinvesting the securities on its balance sheet as they mature. The U.S. probably added 180,000 jobs in March, according to the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey. The Labor Department releases the figures April 7.
• Short positioning has become less extreme in recent weeks, with speculators' net short positions in 10-year Treasuries declining in the last four weeks, according to CFTC data
• That means "any rally could be short-lived because we'll lack the short-covering urgency to push the move further" BMO Capital Markets strategists said in a morning note
• Filings for U.S. unemployment benefits declined to a five-week low, slumping by 25,000 to 234,000 (forecast was 250,000), highlighting a resilient job market, Labor Department report showed
• S&P 500 index rises 0.3 percent, close to erasing all of Wednesday's decline
• Overnight, ECB President Mario Draghi's comments hit euro and aided bunds, but the effect wasn't sustained amid Spanish and French supply; developed-market debt markets split between gains and losses.