The 10-year auction cleared at 5.02%, and dealers took 9.7%, the most since May

Treasury auctioned $42 billion of new 10-year notes at a high yield of 5.020% on Tuesday, according to TreasuryDirect's auction results. The sale came on the day a hotter-than-expected October CPI report and a hawkish speech from Fed Governor Christopher Waller pushed the 10-year yield up about 14 basis points to 5.00%, CNBC reported.

Several desks called the auction soft. The numbers say it was mixed, and the difference matters to anyone who borrows against the 10-year.

What the auction record shows

Dealers' share is our calculation: primary dealer awards divided by the sum of dealer, direct, indirect and retail awards, from TreasuryDirect data. Treasury's own tables may group Fed and foreign official bids differently.

Bidders offered about $103 billion for the $42 billion on sale, a bid-to-cover of 2.46. That beats February and May. Indirect bidders, the group that includes foreign central banks and large funds, took about 61% of the awards, down from about 77% in August. Direct bidders took about 29%. Primary dealers, who must bid and absorb whatever others leave, were left with $4.08 billion, or 9.7%. Peter Boockvar of One Point BFG Wealth Partners told CNBC dealers were left with about 10%, "the most since May."

The part the headline misses

"Most since May" is accurate against August, but it is not a high by this year's standard. Dealers took 13.4% in February and 12.0% in May, when yields were 84 and 55 basis points lower than Tuesday's clearing yield. A 9.7% dealer share is within the year's normal range. What did change is the price: the auction cleared 33 basis points above August's 4.683%.

The high yield was also about 6 basis points above the median accepted bid (5.020% against 4.961%), which means the last bids needed to fill the sale came at a concession. That is a detail of the auction, not a verdict on demand. We do not have the when-issued yield from before the bidding deadline, so we cannot say how large a tail this was; BMO economists described the auction as "a bit soft," with the notes going into the deadline 12 basis points cheaper on the day.

Where yields stand

The Treasury's own daily curve had the 10-year at 4.88% and the 2-year at 4.56% at Monday's close. CNBC had the 2-year at 4.738% on Tuesday, up 19 basis points, and the 30-year at 5.37%. The 10-year peaked at 5.31% on Oct. 5 in Treasury's series and has been between 4.84% and 5.05% since Oct. 23, so Tuesday's move is a return to the top of that range rather than a new high.

CNBC quoted Waller saying a 50 basis point hike "should be considered at the December meeting" if inflation runs hot. See our CPI report breakdown and what a half-point hike would mean for a contractor, a restaurant and a trucker.

Who feels a 5% 10-year

The 10-year is the benchmark that long fixed-rate business loans, commercial mortgages and many equipment financings are priced off, though each loan adds its own spread. A borrower whose quote was set when the 10-year was near 4.68% in August is looking at roughly 0.3 percentage point more in the base rate before any change to the spread. On a $1 million balance, 0.3 point is about $3,000 a year in interest, before amortization. For wider context on the pass-through, see our 10-year yield chart.

What to watch next: wholesale inflation numbers due Friday, which CNBC said may shape the Fed's path.

Sources: TreasuryDirect auction data; U.S. Treasury daily par yield curve rates; CNBC. Yield levels on Nov. 10 are intraday figures as reported by CNBC and may differ from Treasury's end-of-day series. This is market information, not investment advice.