NEW YORK- Longer-dated US Treasury yields rose on Tuesday after labor market data showed an increasing number of unfilled jobs, but demand remained high at the short end as investors seeking safe haven from geopolitical uncertainty in Asia bought Treasuries.
US job openings increased moderately in October while layoffs declined, suggesting the labor market continued to slow in an orderly fashion. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 7.744 million by the last day of October, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Layoffs decreased 169,000 to 1.633 million.
After South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law, the country’s currency tumbled to a two-year low and investors fled to low-risk assets such as Treasuries. The president agreed to lift the martial law decree after parliament rejected it. The yield on the benchmark US 10-year Treasury note rose 0.5 basis point to 4.199 percent. The two-year US Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 4.7 basis points to 4.151 percent.
