10-year Treasury bond loses 3.1 basis points

Prices on US Treasury bonds were up and yields fell to their lowest levels in a month on Tuesday, mostly on figures showing that the sales of existing homes had fallen by 2.7 percent in July.

In midday trading in New York, the 10-year Treasury bond had lost 3.1 basis points to a yield of 4.176 percent, while the 2-year bond dropped 3 basis points to yield 3.988 percent.

In Europe, meanwhile, yields on eurozone government bonds were up with the news that the
ZEW index of investor confidence had risen from 37 in July to 50 in August.

Yields on the 2-year Schatz gained 4 basis points to 2.210 percent as yields on the 10-year Bund rose by 0.8 basis points to 3.171 percent.

Still, some analysts wanted to wait for the numbers from the Ifo business sentiment index, due out on Wednesday, before committing to confidence that the eurozone economy is getting better.

Yields on UK gilts were down after an initial rise, as investors anticipated release of the CBI industrial trends survey.

The 2-year gilt fell fractionally to a yield of 4.194 percent, while the 10-year gilt lost 1.9 basis points to yield 4.245 percent.

In Japan, yields on the 10-year government bond lost 2 basis points to 1.450 percent.