Apr 24, 2018

U.S. Treasury yields hit 3% for first time in 4 years

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

The U.S. Treasury Department building on Pennsylvania Avenue. Photo: Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images

Yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note hit 3% Tuesday for the first time since January 2014.

Why it matters: This impacts borrowing costs for the U.S. government, and means that servicing our debt could become more difficult (particularly as that debt is expected to grow due to the GOP tax plan).

  • Some investors focused on public equities could reallocate some money into fixed income.
  • The movement is a good sign for U.S. dollar strengthening.

Note: 3% is not just an arbitrary number. It's the sort of threshold that can influence market mentality.

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Trump campaign goes all in on Pennsylvania

Trump poster in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Photo: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

The president's campaign is placing more importance on Pennsylvania amid growing concern that his chances of clinching Wisconsin are slipping, Trump campaign sources tell Axios.

Driving the news: Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral votes, twice Wisconsin's number, actually has been trending higher in recent public and internal polling, a welcome development for the campaign.

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Hans Nichols, Alayna Treene
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Inside Biden's Supreme Court strategy

Joe Biden enters the hall at the National Constitution Center. Photo: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images

Joe Biden’s closing argument will shift to a dominant emphasis on health care, turning the looming Supreme Court fight into a referendum on coverage and pre-existing conditions, officials tell Axios.

Why it matters: Biden aides believed they were winning when the race was about the coronavirus pandemic. Now they plan to use the Supreme Court opening as a raucous new field for a health care fight, returning to a theme that gave Democrats big midterm wins in 2018.

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Neal Rothschild
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RBG death shifts social media conversation

Data: NewsWhip; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Ruth Bader Ginsburg-related social media interactions dwarfed all other topics this week — a departure from a run of weeks where, other than the coronavirus, violence in cities was the dominant storyline.

The big picture: In just two days, there were 41 million interactions (likes, comments or shares) on stories about the late Supreme Court justice, according to exclusive NewsWhip data.

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