BOND REPORT: Treasurys Slide As Risk Assets Take Spotlight

By Ben Eisen, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Treasury prices slid Monday as investors ditched safe assets and bought back into riskier investments.

The benchmark 10-year note (10_YEAR) yield, which rises as prices fall, was up 2.5 basis points on the day at 2.543%, paring its biggest weekly fall since March.

U.S. stocks rallied, helping the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) regain its 17,000 level, while gold plunged. Citigroup Inc. (C) impressed investors with earnings, which helped jump-start Monday's stock gains. Portuguese bond prices rose and yields fell as concerns over the nation's banking system eased.

"It's one of the quietest, if not the quietest day so far this year," said Jason Rogan, managing director of U.S. Treasury trading at Guggenheim Securities. He noted investors were largely waiting on events scheduled for later in the week.

Market participants are looking toward Tuesday and Wednesday, when Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak publicly before Congress.

Also on the docket this week: retail sales on Tuesday, producer price index and industrial production on Wednesday, housing starts on Thursday, and consumer sentiment on Friday.

Improving conditions in the labor market are stoking a debate about whether the Federal Reserve should lift key interest rates sooner than initially planned, according to a Friday report by The Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath.

The 5-year note (5_YEAR) yield rose 3 basis points to 1.669%, while the 30-year bond (30_YEAR) yield was up 2 basis points at 3.363%.

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