On a day when another warm CPI report roiled the US rates complex, markets could’ve done without an ugly 10-year sale.

But when it rains it pours, as the hackneyed old cliché goes, so I suppose it wasn’t entirely surprising to see a 3bps tail on the benchmark reopening.

If you’re not well-versed, suffice to say that’s bad. Really bad, actually, and insult to injury for a reeling bond market.

10-year yields, already ~16bps higher following the inflation data, rose even further, to ~4.57%.

16bps is a helluva concession, and the sale was set to clear at the highest level in months. That made the poor reception even more notable. This wasn’t a dip anyone was excited to buy, apparently.

At 2.34x, the bid/cover was well below the 2.53 reopening average and the nondealer share was the lowest since 2022 (dealers took 24% of the sale versus a 15.7% average).

To be fair, the timing (an hour ahead of the March FOMC minutes) wasn’t auspicious, and it probably didn’t help that the sale played out in the shadow of the CPI release and all the associated volatility.

Whatever the case, it wasn’t just front-end yields that saw their largest increase of 2024 on Wednesday. 10s were likewise on track for their biggest selloff of the year.