At the center of the storm of this week's market turmoil is the 10-year Treasury yield, one of the most influential numbers in finance.
The relentless rise in borrowing costs has blown past forecasters' predictions and has Wall Street casting about for explanations. While thehas been raising its benchmark rate for 18 months, that hasn't impacted longer-dated Treasurys like the 10-year until recently as investors believed rate cuts were likely coming in the near term.
Stocks have sold off since yields began rising in July, giving up much of the year's gains, but the typical safe haven of U.S. Treasurys has fared even worse. Longer-dated bonds have lost 46% since a March 2020 peak, according to Bloomberg, a precipitous decline for what's supposed to be one of the safest investments available.