Gary Siegel

Initial jobless claims climbed 8,000 to 339,000 in the week ended February 8, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The Treasury Department auctioned $24 billion of 10-year notes with a 2 3/4% coupon at a 2.795% high yield, a price of 99.609744.

Inflation is expected to be 2.0% in the next 12 months, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's most recent business inflation expectations survey, slightly higher than the 1.9% rate forecast in the past two surveys.

The too big to fail issue has not been solved, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey M. Lacker said Tuesday.

Returning to a theme that's been popular with him, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President and CEO Richard W. Fisher, reiterated late Tuesday that monetary policy is solid and it is the obstacle to prosperity is the federal government.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $30 billion of three-year notes with a 5/8% coupon at a 0.715% yield, a price of 99.734055.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $8 billion of four-week bills at a 0.030% high yield, a price of 99.997667.

With the labor market improving, the Federal Open Market Committee should step up the pace of tapering its asset purchases and stop buying before the unemployment rate dips to 6.5%, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President and Chief Executive Officer Charles I. Plosser repeated Tuesday.

Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen told Congress she expects to "continuity" in the Federal Open Market Committee's policy and she "strongly" supports the strategy, which she helped to craft as a member of the panel.

The Treasury Department Monday sold $50 billion 72-day cash management bills, dated Feb. 11, due April 24, 2014, at a 0.090% high tender rate.

Although Federal Reserve Board policymakers have not changed their statement regarding when they will raise the Fed funds target rate, investors have moved up their expectations of when the Fed will act, according to an economic letter by Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco senior economist Jens Christensen.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were higher, as the three-months incurred a 0.095% high rate, up from 0.040% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.110% high rate, up from 0.060% the week before.

Consumers see earnings, income and spending growing quicker in the next 12 months, according to the Survey of Consumer Expectations, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

The Treasury Department said Monday it will sell $8 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) gained to 116.61 in January from a downwardly revised 115.62 in December, and is up 6.0% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

U.S. inflationary pressures were slightly higher in January, as the U.S. future inflation gauge climbed to 101.4 from the December 100.7 reading, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

Tapering will continue despite a January employment report that did not meet expectations, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher.

Labor market slack data show the U.S. economy remains "very far from historical average levels of labor utilization," and therefore monetary policy should stay highly accommodative, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President & Chief Executive Officer Eric S. Rosengren said Thursday.

Newly issued Treasury securities held in stripped form increased about $2.379 billion in January to a total of $207.035 billion, the Bureau of the Public Debt reported Thursday.

The Treasury Department said it will auction $50 billion 72-day cash management bills on Monday, Feb. 10.