Interest rates rise as profit taking in bonds continues.

Long-term interest rates rose slighty on Monday as profit-taking continued after last week's bond rally.

At 4 p.m., the price of the 30-year Treasury bond was down about 1/8 to 10010/32, boosting the yield to 6.23% from 6.21% on Friday.

Prices of other current-coupon Treasury issues held steady. The price of the 10-year note was unchanged to yield 6.21%; five-year notes fell 1/32 to 1017/32, increasing the yield to 4.97% from 4.95%; and two-year notes dropped 1/32 to 10018/32, raising the yield to 3.94% from 3.91%.

In the bill sector, the government auctioned a total of $25 billion of three-month and six-month bills at respective average discount rates of 3.02% and 3.12%. The three-month bill was down 1 basis point from last week's auction, while the six-month rate was unchanged.

The Treasury today is scheduled to sell $16 billion of two-year notes. In when-issued trading, the notes yielded 3.98%. The Treasury will follow on Wednesday with $11 billion of five-year notes.

Profit taking also weighed on stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 9.50 points to 3,605.98. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 0.93 to 455.23. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.11 to 730.85.

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