Everyone's watching the 10-year yield, but this is the real rate that matters

While the 10-year Treasury note is garnering all the headlines, investors might be better off watching much shorter duration debt to figure out what's really happening in the markets. The 2-year note rose above 2.5 percent Wednesday, a level it last saw in July 2008, just two months before the financial crisis imploded with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.