U.S. Treasury yields continued their ascent on Monday as global bond markets sold off amid concerns of resurgent inflationary pressures.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — was more than 2 basis points higher in the early hours, at 4.6173%, its highest level in 15 months.
The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield, which is more sensitive to political risks, has now reached a two-decade high, at 5.1418%, after a 1 basis point rise on Monday.
The 2-year Treasury note yield, which tends to react in line with short-term Federal Reserve interest rate decisions, was also more than 1 basis point higher at 4.1008%.
One basis point is equal to 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.
U.S. Treasury yields soared last week, with the 10-year yield rising 14 basis points, as new Fed chair Kevin Warsh faces rising consumer prices and increased import costs.
The latest spike in borrowing costs reverberated across global markets Monday, ahead of a key meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers in Paris later.
Yields on 10-year German bunds rose more than 2 basis points to reach 3.1827%, while Japan’s 10-year JGB surged 13 basis points to reach 2.739%.
In the U.K., yields on 10-year Gilts, the benchmark for British government debt, eased slightly. Yields were lower by about 1 basis point in early dealmaking, but remain elevated at 5.169% amid uncertainty over the fate of Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The 30-year Gilt yield was about 3 basis points lower at 5.818%.
With the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict front and center of the G7 summit, central bankers now face a tightrope on interest rates, said Will Hobbs, chief investment officer at Brooks Macdonald.
“Inflation is going to be a tricky, annoying problem for central banks and bond investors,” Hobbs told told CNBC’s ‘Europe Early Edition’ Monday.
Oil prices rose again on Monday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, up 1.8% to reach $111.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were last seen trading at $107.56 per barrel, a rise of more than 2%.
Lizzie Galbraith, senior political economist at Aberdeen, said the energy price shock and ongoing U.K. political turmoil, which could herald a decisive shift to the left under a new Labour prime minister, puts “an extra risk premia” on U.K. gilts.
