Thanks to the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to the lowest level on record.
The 10-year yield closed at 1.70 percent Thursday, according to data from the Department of the Treasury. The yield sank 6 basis points from Wednesday.
It was the lowest level on record based ever recorded based on historical data from the Federal Reserve Board back to 1962.
The prior record was set on Sept. 22, 2011: 1.72 percent.
Investors fled the stock market for the relative safety of the U.S. Treasury market as Greece threatens to abandon the austerity measures that it previously committed to and teeters on the verge of exiting the European Union and abandoning the Euro currency.
In addition, equities investors were spooked by the downgrade of Spanish banks and rising yields on Spanish bonds.
Mortgage rates, which also sit at record-low levels, closely track the 10-year Treasury yield.
