MW: Treasurys slump as investors turn to 12-year-low stocks
Treasurys slump as investors turn to 12-year-low stocks moved up 9 basis points at 2.962%. Yields on two-year notes were up 2 basis points at 0.903%, while those on 30-year bonds rose 7 basis points to 3.685%.
Bond prices move inversely to their yields.
At 10 a.m. Eastern, will be data on pending home sales for January and later in the session will be monthly sales from automakers.
Also, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will discuss the budget in front of separate Senate and House committees.
"U.S. equities recuperated somewhat... amid hope that either Treasury's Geithner or Fed's Bernanke could provide some more rescue plan details today in congressional testimony, though little positive is forecast for upcoming auto and pending home sales data," analysts at Action Economics said in a note.
In early action, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 48 points at 6,811. The S&P 500 index was up at 6 points to 707, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 13 points to 1,336.
Also lending support to stocks was a Wall Street Journal report that the Obama administration is considering creating multiple "bad bank" investment funds that would involve private capital to purchase the bad loans and other distressed assets that lie at the heart of the financial crisis.
The Journal report cited unnamed people familiar with the matter. One leading idea on the administration's previously announced plan to buy up to $1 trillion in distressed assets is to establish separate funds to be run by private investment managers, the report said.
Also on Tuesday, the Federal Reserve and Treasury launched their $200 billion Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, a lending program that could generate up to $1 trillion in loans to small businesses and consumers.
The New York Fed will lend up to $200 billion to owners of high-rated asset-backed securities, such as consumer loans, auto loans, student loans, credit cards, or small-business loans. The program is designed to circumvent credit channels that are now blocked up to stimulate the economy, the government said.
