NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bonds were mixed Tuesday after a report said home prices flattened in October, ahead of a $42 billion auction of 5-year Treasury notes.
The Treasury is selling a total of $118 billion of notes this week, including the 5-year sale later Tuesday.
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| Click the chart to view other bond prices and yields. |
"The fact that [the government is] selling this huge amount on New Year's week just encapsulates what's happened to the economy over the past year," said Steve Van Order, fixed income strategist at Calvert Funds. "You can believe they wouldn't do it if they didn't have to."
The bond market will close at 2 p.m. ET Thursday and will remain dark Friday in observance of New Year's Day.
A $44 billion auction of 2-year notes drew strong demand Monday. The government is also selling $32 billion of 7-year notes Wednesday.
"The auctions have gone very smoothly, which is pretty surprising," Van Order said. "These are historically notable amounts, levels not seen since we tried to get out of the recession in the 1990s."
The S&P/Case Shiller index of home prices in 20 of the largest cities was unchanged in October from the previous month, snapping four straight increases. Home prices were down 7.3% from a year ago, worse than analysts' forecasts for a drop of 7.1%.
The downbeat data added somewhat to Treasurys' safe-haven appeal, but gains were slight as a separate report showed consumer confidence rose in December for a second straight month.
The benchmark 10-year bond fell 1/32 to 96-5/32, boosting the yield to 3.85% from 3.84% late Monday. The 30-year bond was up 3/32 to 95-1/32 and its yield was 4.68%. The 2-year note fell 2/32 to 99-24/32 and yielded 1.11%.
"Most of these reports are kind of continuing to support that we're coming out of the recession, though we're not knocking down the doors," Van Order said. "It's a sub-par recovery, really about half the speed you usually grow out of a recession, but it's much better than what we've seen." 
| Overnight Avg Rate | Latest | Change | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 yr fixed | 3.80% | 3.88% | |
| 15 yr fixed | 3.20% | 3.23% | |
| 5/1 ARM | 3.84% | 3.88% | |
| 30 yr refi | 3.82% | 3.93% | |
| 15 yr refi | 3.20% | 3.23% |
Today's featured rates:
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 32,627.97 | -234.33 | -0.71% |
| Nasdaq | 13,215.24 | 99.07 | 0.76% |
| S&P 500 | 3,913.10 | -2.36 | -0.06% |
| Treasuries | 1.73 | 0.00 | 0.12% |
| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ford Motor Co | 8.29 | 0.05 | 0.61% |
| Advanced Micro Devic... | 54.59 | 0.70 | 1.30% |
| Cisco Systems Inc | 47.49 | -2.44 | -4.89% |
| General Electric Co | 13.00 | -0.16 | -1.22% |
| Kraft Heinz Co | 27.84 | -2.20 | -7.32% |
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