"In their intensifying search for havens, investors are bidding up Treasury securities and thumbing their noses at just about everything else, from stocks to municipal bonds to government-sponsored enterprises.</br></br>Reacting to fears of a U.S. economic slowdown, investors dumped stocks on Wednesday. Not even low-risk sectors such as utilities or consumer staples were spared. Then in Asia yesterday, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 4.4%, leaving it down 16% this month. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index, which includes a number of China plays, lost an additional 2.3%, bringing its loss for November to 17%.</br></br>The U.S. stock selloff on Wednesday included a 211.10-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the third straight drop. At 12799.04, the Dow is now up 2.7% on the year. It also is nearly 10% off its October highs -- the textbook definition of a ""correction"" that shakes speculative excess out of the market.</br></br>""It's no longer a need for return,"" said Treasury-bond strategist John Spinello at Jefferies & Co. ""It's preserving your capital.""</br></br>Stocks have often bounced after such corrections in the past. For now at least, investors seem to be heading somewhere else instead. The price of a benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained about $2.50 for each $1,000 invested Wednesday. That pushed its yield to 4.024%, its lowest level since September 2005. (Yields fall on bonds as their prices rise.)"