Positive earnings from the likes of Bank of New York Mellon, BB&T and Danaher were overshadowed by rising yields in the early trading session on Thursday as benchmark Treasury yields rose across the board, causing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall by over 150 points.
In part, Treasury note yields were partly to blame for last week’s stock sell-off as benchmark notes went on a weeklong ascent in the week prior, pushing to new highs that caused investors to fret. Today, those jitters returned with the benchmark yields ticking higher as the 10-year note went to 3.213, while the 30-year note was at 3.384 as of 10:15 a.m. ET.
Short-duration yields were up as well with the 2-year note rising to 2.907 and the 5-year note heading up to 3.068.
“The bottom line is that the long end of the US yield curve has managed to break out for the first time in several years and that other developed market yields have also been moving higher,” said Michael Shaoul, chairman and CEO of Marketfield Asset Management. “The fact that US yields only dropped slightly during last week’s equity rout is a sign that little demand for these instruments was sitting on the sidelines and there are already signs that the long bond is ready to revisit its recent high at 3.44 percent.”