Treasurys fall ahead of $32 billion bond auction

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) � Treasurys fell, pushing yields higher, as the Treasury Department plans to sell $32 billion in 3-year notes on Tuesday.

Yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note 10_YEAR �rose 3 basis points to 1.98% in early trading.

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One basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point and yields move inversely to prices.

�The market is setting up for auctions this week at the long end of the curve as it often does,� said Michael Pond, head of global inflation market research at Barclays.

There isn�t much else going on in the market today, with equities nearly unchanged and commodities mixed, he said.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �gained 0.1%, or 15.1 points, to 13,986.51 while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �fell 0.07% to 3,189.45. The Standard & Poor�s 500 Index SPX �gained 0.04% to 1,517.6.

Yields on the 30-year bond 30_YEAR �rose 2 basis points to 3.18% and yields on the 5-year note 5_YEAR �rose 3 basis points to 0.87%.

Several Federal Reserve officials will speak about the economy at different venues Tuesday, some of whom are skeptical about quantitative easing. Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George, who voted against the Fed�s aggressive bond-buying program in January, is scheduled to speak 11:30 a.m at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

The Treasury Department is scheduled to sell $24 billion in 10-year notes and $16 billion in 30-year bonds later this week.