What data/factors/attributes do the professionals monitor in a top-down analysis on the macroeconomics?
I am experienced with fixed income macro analysis. The short answer is that what you look at depends on what you want to know.

In rates analysis, the key driver for bond yields (hence prices) is the expected path for the overnight rate. The central bank sets the overnight rate. So you need to be interested in what the central bank is looking at.

The Bank of Canada is a fairly typical developed central bank, and has very good primers on their decision-making process. They have some pages describing indicators they look at here: link to BoC page. You could draw analogies to indicators in other countries.

(With regards to the 2/10 slope, that is indication of the expected path of short rates. The usual story is that if the slope is negative - 10-year yield less than the 2-year - rate cuts are expected, which normally happens in a recession. There is a huge literature on the “yield curve” for forecasting; should be easy to find something with a web search.)