Have you ever seen someone randomly do something fairly awful/hurtful/aggressive, offer no explanation or apology, and then just leave the scene?  That was essentially what bond markets did today.  Friday's already unpleasant weakness was forcibly extended, bringing yields to the highest levels in more than 4 years during the overnight session (a feat that was nearly repeated during domestic hours).

There were no new developments in the bond market world to justify such a turn of events.  Still, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise if you've been reading this commentary.  After all, last week was all about the "defeat of the friendly Springtime consolidation in rates."  That defeat paved the way for the bigger-picture, longer-term selling trend to get back underway. 

Bottom line, that negative trend is its own justification for existence.  If there's a positive, it's that domestic market participants seemed to perk up at the prospect of buying 10yr notes near 3% yields.  If there's a negative, it's that 2.96% was equally exciting to sellers, who had no intention of letting yields dip any lower.  We can hope those buyers up at 3% remain interested through the week's big Treasury auction day on Wednesday and the first reading of Q1 GDP.  Even so, fans of low rates should be feeling defensive until further notice.