Every consumer rate is priced off the curve above it. The fed funds rate is the overnight rate the Federal Reserve sets; it moves card APRs and other variable-rate debt within a billing cycle. The 2-year Treasury is the market's bet on where the Fed goes over the next two years, and the 10-year is the anchor for 30-year mortgages, which typically price about one and a half to three points above it depending on how nervous lenders are. Auto loans sit between the two, set off medium-term funding costs plus the lender's view of credit risk.
The shape of the curve is a signal of its own. When the 2-year yield is above the 10-year — an inverted curve — the market expects the Fed to cut, historically because a slowdown is coming; when the curve steepens again after an inversion, the cuts have usually started. For inflation, the link runs both ways: higher inflation pushes the whole curve up, and higher borrowing costs cool the spending that feeds prices, with a lag of a year or more.
What it means for a household: a rate cut lowers variable-rate costs quickly but moves fixed mortgage rates only as far as the 10-year follows. The mortgage page breaks rates down by loan type, Fed Watch shows what the markets expect from the next meeting, and the macro dashboard charts the Treasury curve and the 2s10s spread over time.