What falling Treasury yields are telling us

It's a trend that long predates the coronavirus. But what does it mean?

A stock trader.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Spencer Platt/Getty Images, Aerial3/iStock)

As panic spreads across both American and international markets, U.S. Treasury yields are plumbing hitherto unheard-of depths.

Yields were over 1.5 percent as recently as mid-February, but fell as the potential economic threat of the coronavirus became apparent. Last week, yields on 10-year Treasuries broke below one percent for the first time in, well, ever. When an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia exploded over the weekend, they punched below 0.5 percent to briefly touch 0.318 percent. Even the long-term 30-year Treasury reached an unprecedented low of 0.702 percent. As of this writing, both had recovered slightly, but remained below the record-breaking one percent threshold.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.