# The yield curve and the 10-year minus 2-year spread

Informational only - not investment advice.

Book: [Reading Financial Data - Step by Step](/guide/)
Chapter: [Economic indicators](/guide/economic-indicators/)
As of: 2026-06-16

A yield spread compares two interest rates by subtracting one from the other.

## Concept

T10Y2Y is the 10-year Treasury yield minus the 2-year Treasury yield, measured in percentage points.

## Worked Example: Read the published spread

1. The 10-year yield page shows 4.47% as of 2026-06-15.
2. The 2-year yield page shows 4.07% as of 2026-06-15.
3. The direct spread series T10Y2Y shows 0.38 percentage points as of 2026-06-16.
4. When this spread is negative, people often call it an inversion: the 2-year yield is higher than the 10-year yield.
5. An inversion is a widely watched recession signal, but this lesson is only reading the series, not making a forecast.
6. Using the direct spread series avoids mixing observations from different dates.

## See it live

- [T10Y2Y spread page](/indicator/T10Y2Y/)
- [DGS10 page](/indicator/DGS10/)
- [DGS2 page](/indicator/DGS2/)

## Sources

- [T10Y2Y source](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/T10Y2Y)
- [DGS10 source](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DGS10)
- [DGS2 source](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DGS2)