U.S. to sell $32 billion in 3-year notes during session
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices fell on Tuesday, erasing the prior session’s rally, as the relative safety of U.S. debt was gauged in light of the Spanish bank bailout, upcoming Greek elections and rising Italian yields.
Coming up is the Treasury Department’s sale of 3-year notes 3_YEAR +5.23% , the first of three major auctions this week.
Yields on 10-year notes 10_YEAR +3.52% , which move inversely to prices, rose 4 basis points to 1.63%. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Yields on 30-year bonds 30_YEAR +2.36% increased 4 basis points to 2.76%.
U.S. stock-market futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street, which would allow the market to recoup some of the losses in the prior session that came on the heels of rising bond yields for Spain and Italy. Read about U.S. stock futures.
“Treasurys remain under modest pressure as risk-assets have found a modest bid this morning despite the on-again/off-again perceived benefits of the recent Spanish bank bailout,” said Ian Lyngen, a government bon strategist at CRT Capital Group.
On Tuesday, European yields continued to climb. Spain’s 10-year government bond ES:10YR_ESP +2.39% rose 14 basis points to 6.67% and those for Italy IT:10YR_ITA +1.50% increased 10 basis points to 6.14%.
At 1 p.m. Eastern time, the U.S. will auction $32 billion in 3-year notes. The amount has been steady since October 2010.
Deborah Levine is a MarketWatch reporter, based in New York.
