By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices rose modestly on Tuesday, pushing yields down, as traders return from a three-day weekend to find more worries about Spain.
Yields on 10-year notes 10_YEAR -0.57% , which move inversely to prices, fell 1 basis point to 1.73%, hovering just above their all-time lows.
A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Thirty-year bond yields 30_YEAR -0.11% decreased 1 basis point to 2.84%.
Just over a week ago, long-bond yields ended at their lowest level since October — which was the weakest since the record low of 2.57% set late in 2008.
Yields on 5-year notes 5_YEAR -1.44% slipped 1 basis point to 0.75% — after flirting with their lowest level since February, when they set their lowest closing level ever.
Bond markets were closed Monday for Memorial Day.
Analysts noted that Spanish markets continue to struggle, with a very weak retail sales report adding to concerns about the country’s growth potential and ability to service its rising debt costs. Read about Europe markets.
Still, sentiment outside the Treasury market improved thanks to some optimism about Greece’s willingness to continue to honor its bailout agreement and stay in the euro.
“The story continues as one of uncertainty mixed with confusion peppered with optimism tempered by pessimism and leaving the Treasury market – hell, every market! – largely dependent on developments in Europe for the big directional move,” said bond strategists at CRT Capital Group. “We don’t have that now, we probably won’t have that for at least a few weeks if even then and so ascribe the price action to a choppy consolidation of gains.”
Bonds stayed up after a pair of economic reports disappointed analysts. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index was flat in March and consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated this month. See story on home prices.
Last week, bond yields rose, breaking a strong of weekly declines in 10-year yields that was the longest since 1998. Read about Treasury market last week.
Deborah Levine is a MarketWatch reporter, based in New York.
