Stocks Gain Most When Yields Rise to Near 4%: Technical Analysis

U.S. stocks posted the best returns when 10-year Treasury yields rose to close to 4 percent, according to a study by Standard & Poor’s that tracked market performance since 1953.

The S&P 500 Index, the benchmark measure of U.S. equities, advanced 1.7 percent a month on average during periods when 10-year yields climbed to a range of 3 percent to 4 percent, according to data compiled by New York-based S&P. That’s the best performance among six categories of rising yields studied by the firm. Stocks began to fall when yields exceeded 6 percent, the study found.