There goes the swagger. Sure, the bond market’s attitude (or was it misplaced nonchalance?) of late has evaporated amid the roar of selling the benchmark 10-year Treasury Note in recent days. As such, the yield on the 10-year jumped to as high as 4.78% at one point yesterday, up from around 4.50% at the end of February.
Yesterday’s closing yield was the highest in nearly two years for the 10-year Note. What’s up? The economy, one could argue. A number of reports of late leave the impression that economic growth remains sufficiently potent to keep the Federal Reserve on track for raising short-term interest rates. To be sure, the Fed’s been doing just that for almost two years, and the bond market has more or less yawned. Why is the fixed-income set taking note now?