On Thursday morning, u.s. treasury yields rose as the market digested slightly higher unemployment claims data ahead of the more important non-farm payroll data released on Friday.

The u.s. 10-year treasury notes yield increased by 2.9 basis points to 4.211%, and the u.s. 2-year treasury notes yield rose by 5.6 basis points to 4.177%.

Data shows that the number of Americans filing new unemployment claims increased moderately last week, indicating a continued steady cooling of the u.s. labor market.

Mike Lorizio, a senior fixed-income trader at Manulife Investment Management, stated that the market is now shifting its focus to data with a higher correlation to the employment market and inflation released before the Federal Reserve meeting on December 17-18, "There is a lot of economic data from now until the meeting - Friday's employment data, next week's CPI and PPI, and the market views these as key data affecting the Fed's decision-making."

Powell's stance on Wednesday seemed to support a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts, stating that the u.s. economy is currently stronger than the Fed's forecast in September.

However, the market still believes that there is a high likelihood of a 25 basis points rate cut at this month's meeting. On Thursday, the FedWatch tool at cme group showed a 73.8% probability of a rate cut in December, slightly lower than the 75% later on Wednesday.