Stocks broke out in a big way today--a fact that may make the relatively 'unchanged' bond market performance more palatable.  In bonds' defense, they did nothing wrong.  The CME open brought a bit of buying.  The NYSE open brought a bit of selling, but the bias remained slightly positive overall with help from the confirmation hearing for new Fed Chair Powell.

Powell didn't put up with any--well... crap (no better word for it) from Senators seeking to use him for political posturing, but at the same time he didn't rub their faces in the fact that they were being obnoxious.  He'll survive this job!  Not only that, but he was more dovish than most expected him to be.  That helped both stocks and bonds heading into mid-day.

After that, bonds and stocks had less in common.  Tax bill headlines suggested things might be moving in a more "passable" direction.  Bonds didn't like that--nor did they like the rocky 7yr Treasury auction.  The combination resulted in clear selling pressure heading into the afternoon, but not enough to take 10yr yields any higher than 2.342%.  Bonds recovered to end the day unchanged, and that feels like a "win" given the massive improvement in stocks.