The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield resumed its historic slide on Monday as investors continued to punish risk assets like stocks in favor of the safety of bonds between an all-out oil price war and contagion fears surrounding the coronavirus.
The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury briefly touched an all-time low of 0.318% in overnight trading, adding another 30 basis points to an unprecedented fall in the key interest rate. That rate was above 1.5% as recently as mid-February.
The 10-year yield, in particular, holds outsized importance in the U.S. economy for its use as a benchmark for mortgage rates and auto loans. The 30-year Treasury yield also hit a record low of 0.702%, breaching the 1% threshold for the first time in history. Bond yields fall as their prices rise.
Thomas Franck & Yun Li | CNBC