Treasury yields are little changed ahead of Jackson Hole

Treasury yields were little changed on Thursday as investors geared up for the start of the Federal Reserve's closely watched annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, the first under Chair Kevin Warsh.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was less than 1 basis point lower at 4.662%. The 30-year Treasury bond yield was flat at 5.185%, while the yield on the 2-year Treasury note nudged less than a basis point lower to 4.222%.

One basis point equals 0.01%, or 1/100th of 1%, and yields and prices move inversely to one another.

The most highly-anticipated event of the week is the Jackson Hole summit, where Warsh will deliver a speech on Friday.

Investors are hungry for more information regarding the chairman's views on the economy, inflation pressures and the role of monetary policymaking. A lack of any forward guidance means markets may be jumpy in response to any perceived dovish or hawkish tilt.

Of particular interest will be whether he also comments on the move higher in U.S. long-term borrowing costs or the Treasury Department's plan to increase its buybacks of government debt in response.

Investors received some insight into the state of the economy heading into the much-anticipated speech. On Thursday, initial jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 22 stood at 203,000, less than the 208,000 that economists polled by Dow Jones anticipated.

The data comes after the Fed's preferred inflation gauge came in slightly higher than expected on Wednesday. The print helped boost the U.S. dollar and left a majority of fed funds futures traders still betting that the Fed will leave rates unchanged in September, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.