The 10-Year Treasury Yield Just Hit 5%, and It Creates a Dilemma S&P 500 Investors Haven't Faced in Nearly 20 Years

Key Points For the first time in years, investors might be better off taking the certain yield from long-term Treasuries over the uncertainty with equities. Long-term investors could still prefer the higher return potential of equities, but there's no guarantee they'll outperform bonds. More conservative income seekers might prefer the safety of Treasury bills rather than bonds even though they come with a lower yield. 10 stocks we like better than S&P 500 Index › Just five years ago, the Fed Funds rate was 0%. Three-month Treasury bills were yielding 0.05%. Even the 10-year Treasury yield was a meager 1.5%. Needless to say, the bond market offered very little to income seekers unless you were willing to venture out into risky longer-term junk bonds.