Nonfarm payrolls increased by 311,000 last month, the Labor Department said, above the 205,000 estimate of economists polled by Reuters, while average hourly earnings rose by 0.2% in February, slightly below the expected 0.3%, giving hope that the Fed can be less aggressive in its path of interest rate hikes.
The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was down 10.3 basis points to 3.820%.
Expectations for a larger rate hike by the Fed at its March 22 policy announcement lessened after the jobs data, with fed funds futures now projecting a 44.7% chance of a 50 basis point hike, down from 68.3% on Thursday, according to
CME's FedWatch Tool
.
The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was down 16 basis points at 4.740%.
Yields tumbled on Thursday in part due to worries about the banking sector, and SVB Financial shares were
sharply lower in premarket
business on Friday before the trading in the stock was
halted for news pending.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was
down 5.6 basis points to
3.814
%.
A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes , seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at -92.4 basis points. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
