The anguish of the revived coronavirus triggered new offers for US debt on Thursday and brought the 10-year benchmark rate below 1% as Wall Street regained its recent risk attitude.
The latest reading on the 10-year Treasury bill yield was 0.949%, after falling to historically low levels around 0.9% earlier in the week. The 30-year Treasury bond yield fell by around 3 basis points to 1.602%.
The yield on the 2-year note was last seen at 0.595%, a new historic low; the 5-year rate fell to 0.687%. Bond yields decline as their prices rise.
New headlines documenting the spread of the virulent coronavirus on Thursday helped fuel demand for relative debt security.
In the U.S., California has declared a state of emergency after a coronavirus death in the state, where there are at least 53 confirmed cases. Meanwhile, Princess Cruises was holding a ship off San Francisco after Governor Gavin Newsom said it had asked the Grand Princess not to return to the state until its passengers were properly tested for the sickness.
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that there are now more than 93,000 confirmed cases worldwide and more than 3,000 deaths. Wednesday’s confirmed coronavirus infections in Japan exceeded 1,000. Italy said its death toll was 107 and closed all schools, and Australia has banned travelers from South Korea from helping to slow down. disease.
The US government announced an $ 8 billion spending plan to help fight the spread of the coronavirus on Wednesday, while the IMF also unveiled a $ 50 billion aid package. The US Federal Reserve has already implemented an emergency cut of 50 basis points in interest rates in an attempt to contain the expected economic fallout from the epidemic, and other central banks are expected to follow.
The financing appeared to temporarily quell investor fears on Wednesday when the Dow posted its second highest point gain ever and the top three US stock indexes left correctional territory.
Healthcare dominated market gains on Wednesday after former Vice President Joe Biden clinched a streak of primary victories on Super Tuesday, allaying investor fears that Senators Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren may not win presidential election and restructure the health insurance sector.
The government has said that the number of Americans who first applied for unemployment benefits declined last week, as initial claims fell 3,000 during the week ended February 29 to 216,000 seasonally adjusted . Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal predicted 215,000 new claims.
—CNBC Yun Li and Elliot Smith contributed to this report.