No one can doubt the strangeness of the situation in the long-term U.S. T-note market. Since late-November 2008, 10-year Treasury yields (using the constant maturity yield of the Federal Reserve Board H.15 reports) have ranged between 3.12 and 2.08 percent. During the 77 trading days from Nov. 26, 2008, through March 19, 2009, the 10-year yield has traded at or above three percent on only four days.

A yield situation such as this seems to call out for some kind of trading response. The question is what kind. An awareness of yield history and even the briefest consideration of how the current market climate differs from earlier ones can help shape this response.