By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. Treasury prices slipped as stocks on both sides of the Atlantic gained on news that a conference call among European leaders is scheduled for later Monday, shrugging off anxiety about a transfer of power in North Korea.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note 10_YEAR +1.03% rose to 1.87%, up 2 basis points from Friday.
Bond prices moves inversely to their yields. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
The 30-year bond 30_YEAR +0.18% was unchanged at 2.85%.
Asian stock markets fell overnight following word of the death of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il, who died Saturday after a massive heart attack, according to state-run media in the communist nation. He was 69.
An autopsy conducted Sunday confirmed the cause of death, reports said, with Reuters adding that the leader’s son, Kim Jong-un, was at the head of a long list of officials making up the funeral committee.
News of the dictator’s death raised concerns about the risk of political instability in the country — which has among the largest armies in the world and claims to have working nuclear weapons — as well as in the region, and hurt regional stocks and currencies, particularly in South Korea. Read more about Kim’s death, on MarketWatch
On the data front to kick off the week before Christmas, the U.S. is pretty quiet with only the Home Builders’ index for December on deck. It’s to be released at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
