U.S. Treasury yields inched higher on Monday to begin a shortened week of trading due to the holiday season.
At around 4 p.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to price, rose to 1.931%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was higher, at around 2.354%.
U.S. markets will finish trading early on Dec. 24 and will be closed on Dec. 25, Christmas Day.
Investors are taking more risk and dumping bonds for equities as stocks rally into year end. The 10-year Treasury yield ended November at 1.78% and has jumped 14 basis points in December. Over the summer, the 10-year yield fell below 1.5% at one point.
Solid economic data on Monday did nothing to change investors attitudes about the economy, which have improved dramatically the last six months. Over that time, the bond market has stopped flashing warning signals about a recession and trade tensions have cooled with China, resulting in investors staying away from low-risk assets like bonds.
November new home sales were a seasonally adjusted 719,000, less than expectations but up from a revised 710,00 in October, according to he U.S. Census Bureau on Monday. The median price for a home sold in November rose 7.2% compared to the same period last year.
Durable goods, another key piece of economic data out on Monday, reported an orders increase of 0.1% last month.
The Treasury Department held auctions on Monday for $40 billion worth of 2-year notes, which attracted lower than average demand. The 2-year Treasury auction had a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.30, below last month's auction bid-to-cover of 2.63.