What to Fear Amid Rising Interest Rates

Rising interest rates in U.S. 10-year Treasuries aren't as much of a concern as much as weakening economic data, Mike Santoli of Yahoo Finance said Wednesday.

"I really do believe that the tapering talk was kind of over-extrapolation of some rhetoric, and I think one of the things, perhaps, that Fed officials wanted to do is to throw a little bit of ambiguity about their intentions into the markets because some parts of the market were frothy," he said.

"So, they want to be able to have the market skim the froth away to some degree without the Fed really having to change policy prematurely before they think the market is ready."

On CNBC's "Fast Money," Santoli noted that interest rates on the U.S. Treasury 10-year bond had risen half a point, which was modest.

(Read More: Bond Rates May Inch Up: Jeffrey Gundlach)

"The threat to me has always seemed more a softening up of economic numbers in the summer rather than a hostile Fed," he said.

Santoli also downplayed the fact that mortgage rates crossed 4 percent for the first time in a year, saying the risk wasn't in it "blipping up."

"It's a little more that we have a stutter-step in the pace of that recovery. Doesn't really concern me, but I don't really think that's the thing that's going to take the whole thing down," he said.

(Read More: QE's Effects in 8th Inning: Jeff Gundlach)

Trader disclosure: On June 5, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Stephen Weiss is long BBRY; Stephen Weiss is long LCC; Stephen Weiss is long AAMRQ; Stephen Weiss is long C; Stephen Weiss is long BAC; Stephen Weiss is short BHP; Mike Murphy is long BAC; Mike Murphy is long T; Mike Murphy is long LEN; Mike Murphy is long INTC; Pete Najarian is long AAPL; Pete Najarian is long AAPL CALLS; Pete Najarian is long C CALLS; Pete Najarian is long JPM CALLS; Pete Najarian is long MS CALLS; Pete Najarian is long XLF CALLS; Pete Najarian is long INTC CALLS; Pete Najarian is long YHOO CALLS; Pete Najarian is long BBR; Pete Najarian is long SBUX; Pete Najarian is long FB; Enis Taner is long GS; Enis Taner is long ZNGA; Enis Taner is long T CALLS; Enis Taner is long WMT CALLS; Enis Taner is long VIX CALLS; Enis Taner is long SPY PUTS; Enis Taner is long XLE PUTS; Enis Taner is long XLE PUTS; Enis Taner is long UUP; Enis Taner is long FDX PUT SPREAD.