Can the long bond go further?

The recent drop in long term yields is impressive and historic.  While the 30 year treasury yield has backed up a bit it is still very low, currently in the range seen during the depth of the financial crisis of 2008.

I'm not trying to convince you of whether it can go lower in this post even though I currently own long term treasuries. I'm considering selling of some of my position and this blog post is part of me thinking aloud about the situation.

What is interesting about this current phase of declining interest rates is how the 10 year has broken new lows while the 30 year, while low, is not in record territory yet.  (Note the 30 year was not issued for part of the 2000's. You'll see gaps in the data during that period)

30 and 10 year yields

Looking at the difference between 30 and 10 year yields provides a very different picture.

30 year less 10 year yield

While the spread has declined recently we are still in rare territory when the difference between the 30 and 10 is greater than 1%.  What this all means I honestly don't know yet but I thought I'd share with you yet another example of  how our unique our current situation is.

The author owns long term treasuries and is considering paring back his position.