Bonds

Treasury yields are increasing again, reigniting concerns about higher rates in financial markets

U.S. government debt yields rose across the board Monday, rekindling fears higher borrowing costs would slow the economy.

Buy rates were rising again Monday with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note higher at around 3.158 percent Monday morning, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was also higher at 3.335 percent. Yields rise as bond prices fall.

The uptick in Treasury yields Monday came nearly a week after the rate on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note topped its highest level since 2011 above 3.26 percent. A number of market analysts blamed the rapid rise in rates for a surge in volatility across the broader market, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 both shedding more than 4 percent last week.

Rates retreated later last week as investors sought the relative safety of the government debt market, bidding up bond prices and sending yields lower from their highs.

"There are only a handful of moments in the Treasury market in which the price action itself is the story and the experience of the last several weeks represents such an occurrence," wrote Ian Lyngen and Jon Hill, rates strategists at BMO Capital Markets.

"Investors offered a collective 'ah ha!' as it relates to Fed hikes, growth, and supply – [but] we continue to suspect something more pedestrian is at hand," the strategist added. "By this, we simply mean that this year's 'big trade' was timing the backup in long-end yields."

Treasurys


Yields have been heading higher this year on the back of strong economic data but the market did not get that on Monday. The Commerce Department reported that retail sales barely rose in September amid a rebound in automobile purchases and the largest drop in spending at restaurants and bars in nearly two years.

The government said retail sales edged up 0.1 percent last month after a similar gain in August. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales increasing 0.6 percent in September. Retail sales in September rose 4.7 percent from a year ago.

Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales jumped 0.5 percent last month. These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product.

— CNBC's Sam Meredith contributed reporting.