US Treasuries and Wall Street fell after a report showed American employers added more jobs than expected last month, fuelling a rethink of expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate increases this year.
An ADP Research Institute report showed that US employers added 214,000 jobs in February, surpassing expectations in separate surveys by Bloomberg and Reuters for 190,000 jobs.
Friday's Labor Department data are expected to show that US private payrolls grew by 185,000 jobs in February, up from 158,000 the month before, while total non-farm employment is expected to be 190,000, according to a Reuters survey. The unemployment rate is forecast to remain at 4.9 per cent.
Traders have raised the odds for rate increases this year, with a 40 percent probability for a June hike, up from about 26 per cent a week ago, according to Bloomberg.
Wall Street moved lower. In 12.56pm New York trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3 per cent. In 12.40pm trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index declined 0.1 per cent.