The benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield was little changed on Friday as traders came back from the Christmas holiday to wrap up a week that included strong U.S. economic data. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell less than 1 basis point to 4.13%. The 2-year note yield shed more than 2 basis points to trade at 3.483%. One basis point is equal to 0.01%. Yields move inversely to prices. Traders continued to weigh the latest economic data. The Labor Department on Wednesday reported initial jobless claims of 214,000 for the week ended Dec. 20. That’s below a expectations and was a 10,000 decrease from the prior week. The Commerce Department also reported on Tuesday that the U.S. economy grew by 4.3% in the first quarter — the country’s fastest pace of expansion in two years. “The economy is in good shape,” Gregory Faranello, head of U.S. rates strategy at AmeriVet Securities, wrote earlier this week. “You can’t have inflation and growth running at this pace and expect 10-year yields to move much lower.”
