10yr yields were as low as 1.24% and ended the day at 1.27% after a decent amount of volatility. MBS gained almost a quarter point, but mortgage lenders did not generally improve rate sheets by that much (and some not at all).
Back in the day (but not too far...), it was hard not to notice that the bond market had a habit of hitting long-term low yields on years that ended in 3 and 8. This began in 1993 and worked out perfectly until 2008. It was the topic of a small amount of inconsequential debate in 2013 as yields were still really low, but had technically bottomed out in 2012. The prophecy was then forgetting in 2018 because, clearly, it wasn't anywhere close to happening at that point.
Enter 2020 and the rapid rush to new all-time low yields. Consider that in the context of 2012 and 2008 being the last 2 instances of big moves to super-long-term lows and we have a new "4 year prophecy" to replace the "3's and 8s'" prophecy from the previous 2 decades.
Does any of this matter? No, not really. It's just kind of interesting to consider. Does anything really matter? Surely, it must, but nothing seems to matter when it comes to derailing concerted global efforts to adjust to a temporarily bleak economic future brought about by Coronavirus (CV). When we have the President declaring that the US outbreak was limited to 15 people, and the next day we have an unexpected headline about California monitoring 8400 people who may have been exposed, 33 people test positive, and 5 of those already leave the state, there's absolutely no reason that financial markets should consider doing anything but what they've been doing.
Stocks are in the spotlight now, with some headlines latching onto the fact that today boasted the biggest single day point loss in history for the Dow (not the biggest % loss though). Given the carnage there, the volatility and overall movement in the bond market is measured by comparison. This could also be a clue that the bond rally is running out of steam. But that's for tomorrow's CV headlines to decide.