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Why bond yields are climbing, and why they matter to everyone

Why bond yields are climbing, and why they matter to everyone

C2🇨🇳 中文 → 🇺🇸 English

September 24th, 2026

Why bond yields are climbing, and why they matter to everyone

C2
Please note: This article has been simplified for language learning purposes. Some context and nuance from the original text may have been modified or removed.

🇺🇸 English

The vicissitudes of the bond market, however remote and abstract they may appear on the surface, are such that scarcely anyone can remain untouched by their repercussions.

债券市场的风云变幻,无论表面上何其邈远抽象,其影响几乎无人能够置身事外。

Bond yields have soared to roughly a two-decade peak, and their impact reaches every borrower—from those chafing under the crushing weight of high inflation to the companies seeking to build data centers for artificial intelligence.

债券收益率已飙升至约二十年来的峰值,其影响波及所有借贷主体——既涵盖那些在高通胀重压下苦苦挣扎、倍感沮丧之人,亦包括那些意欲为人工智能技术兴建数据中心的企业。

Elevated yields can have ripple effects even on those who do not engage in borrowing.

高企的收益率甚至会对那些并不涉足借贷的人产生涟漪效应。

For savers, this means they can secure considerably more substantial interest income by allocating their cash to bonds or high-yield savings accounts.

就储蓄者而言,这意味着他们能够通过将现金配置于债券或高收益储蓄账户来获取更为可观的利息收益。

It may likewise exert downward pressure on the value of the stocks held in their 401(k) accounts.

这同样可能对其401(k)账户中所持股票的价值构成下行压力。

Yet for American taxpayers as a whole, rising yields are likely to saddle the federal government with a heavier interest burden, inasmuch as it is compelled to keep borrowing in order to bridge the vast gap between its spending and its revenue.

然而,就全体美国纳税人而言,收益率攀升或将致使联邦政府承受更为沉重的利息负担,盖因政府不得不持续举债,以弥合其支出与收入之间巨额缺口。

Such a course will inevitably crowd out the funds available for virtually everything else.

此举势必挤占其他一切事务的可用资金。

Let us now examine what is happening, and what it all means:

以下且让我们审视正在发生什么,以及这究竟意味着什么:

When governments and large corporations urgently need to raise capital, they do not resort to bank loans; instead, they turn to investors, issuing promissory notes and undertaking to repay the sum at a stipulated rate of interest.

当政府与大型企业亟需筹措资金时,它们并不诉诸银行贷款,而是转而向投资者发行借据,并承诺按既定利率偿付该笔款项。

Any such promissory note that is not to be repaid until several years have elapsed is what we call a bond.

凡于数年之后方予偿还的借据,即谓之债券。

After bonds are issued, investors buy and sell these IOUs on the bond market.

投资者在债券发行后于债券市场上买卖这些借据。

If a bond begins to appear less attractive—for instance, when concerns about inflation intensify—buyers can then acquire for less than $100 a bond that was previously worth $100.

倘若债券开始显得不那么具有吸引力,譬如当人们对通胀的担忧加剧时,买家便能以低于100美元的价格购得一张早先价值100美元的债券。

Even if the bond's price falls, it continues to pay the stipulated interest rate.

纵然债券价格下挫,其仍持续支付既定利率。

This means that, expressed as a percentage, a new buyer will earn a higher return on their money than the rate the bond pays at face value.

这意味着,以百分比计,新买家从其资金中获取的回报将高于债券按面值所支付的利率。

Such payments are what is known as the bond's yield.

此类支付即所谓债券的收益率。

In a nutshell, when bond prices fall, their yields rise correspondingly; and vice versa.

一言以蔽之,债券价格下行之际,其收益率则相应攀升;反之,亦复如是。

The cornerstone of the bond market is U.S. Treasury securities—that is, the debt instruments issued by the U.S. government in order to raise funds.

债券市场的基石乃美国国债——即美国政府为筹措资金而发行的债务凭证。

And the yields on U.S. Treasuries constitute the benchmark to which the interest rates of the vast majority of other categories of borrowing are anchored.

而美国国债之收益率,则构成绝大多数其他类别借款利率所赖以锚定的基准。

For instance, for those intent on purchasing a home, the interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is broadly benchmarked to the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, with a modest or even substantial premium added on top, the precise magnitude of which hinges on the strength or weakness of one's credit score.

举例而言,对于有意购置房产者而言,其30年期固定抵押贷款的利率,大抵以10年期美国国债收益率为基准,再附加些许乃至可观的溢价,具体幅度则取决于其信用评分之优劣。

The US Treasury market is composed of numerous heterogeneous segments, its maturity spectrum stretching from short-term Treasury bills that come due within days to long-term bonds that are not redeemed until thirty years hence.

美国国债市场由诸多异质板块构成,其期限谱系自数日后即告到期的短期国库券绵延至三十年后方予偿付的长期债券。

Each segment exerts an influence on the pricing of different categories of credit, whether it concerns how much yield a saver can obtain from a 12-month certificate of deposit or the interest cost a corporation must bear when it borrows to expand its plant.

每一板块皆对不同类别的信贷定价施加影响,无论关乎储蓄者从12个月期定期存单中可获取几何收益,抑或企业为扩建厂房而举债所需承担的利息成本。

The various segments of the bond market have not always moved in lockstep, yet as of today, they are advancing in unison without exception.

债券市场的各个板块向来未必亦步亦趋,然时至今日,它们却无一例外地齐头并进。

On Thursday, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed to approach the 5.18% threshold, returning to levels last seen in 2007—a time before the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession drove it down to zero.

10年期美国国债收益率于周四攀升至逼近5.18%的关口,重返2007年的水平——彼时,2008年金融危机与大衰退尚未将其压至零。

Struck by the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure dipped below 0.50% in 2020 and has been on a sustained upward trajectory ever since.

受新冠疫情冲击,该数值曾于2020年下探至0.50%以下,此后便持续处于攀升态势。

Since late February, however, its upward momentum has accelerated markedly, as hostilities with Iran have driven oil prices sharply higher and intensified inflation concerns.

然而,自2月底以来,随着与伊朗的战事大幅推高油价并加剧通胀忧虑,其上行节奏显著提速。

Before the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, the 10-year yield stood at merely 3.97%.

在美国与以色列对伊朗发动袭击之前,10年期收益率尚仅为3.97%。

This ascent has driven the average rate on long-term US mortgages past the 7% threshold, a first since early 2025, rendering homeownership ever more arduous for prospective buyers.

此番攀升已使美国长期抵押贷款平均利率突破7%关口,系2025年初以来之首见,令潜在购房者购置房产愈发举步维艰。

This has also sapped the upward momentum of the US stock market, which had only just returned to the brink of record highs earlier this week.

这亦削弱了美国股市的上涨动能,而该市场本周早些时候方才重返历史高点边缘。

Elevated US Treasury yields erode the valuations of investments across the board, from equities to gold to cryptocurrencies.

高企的美国国债收益率会侵蚀从股票到黄金再到加密货币等各类投资的估值。

The logic is this: when US Treasuries offer a more generous yield than has been customary, why pay a hefty premium for riskier investments or those that pay no dividends at all?

其逻辑在于:当美国国债所提供的收益率较之以往更为丰厚时,何必再为风险更高的投资或零股息的投资支付高昂溢价?

The recent climb in US Treasury yields can be attributed in large measure to the upswing in oil prices and to anxieties about inflation.

近期美国国债收益率的攀升,在很大程度上可归因于油价的上扬以及对通胀的忧虑。

When inflation remains stubbornly elevated, a dollar a year from now will buy less than a dollar does today.

当通胀居高不下时,明年的1美元所能购得的商品,将少于今日的1美元。

And since bonds typically pay a fixed amount of interest over the coming years, this renders inflation a substantial risk.

而债券通常在未来数年间支付固定金额的利息,这便使通胀成为一项重大风险。

At the same time, governments around the world continue to accumulate ever more massive levels of debt.

与此同时,全球各国政府仍在持续累积愈发庞大的债务规模。

This means, in turn, that they are compelled to raise the funds they borrow by issuing yet more bonds, and the relentless rise in supply is bound to exert downward pressure on their prices.

这也就意味着,它们不得不通过发行更多债券来筹措借款,而供应的不断攀升势必对其价格形成下行压力。

The full array of bonds issued by large corporations to build AI data centers and to expand their operations in other ways has had precisely the same effect.

大型企业为兴建AI数据中心以及以其他方式拓展业务所发行的全部债券,亦产生了如出一辙的效果。

US Treasury yields have been climbing, partly because the American economy continues to appear so robust despite the myriad challenges it faces.

美国国债收益率攀升,其部分缘由在于:纵然面临重重挑战,美国经济却依旧显得如此稳健。

On Wednesday, for instance, a preliminary report showed that US business activity accelerated to its strongest pace in more than five years, giving Treasury yields a further lift.

譬如,周三一份初步报告显示美国商业活动增长飙升至五年多来的最强水平,国债收益率遂因此获得提振。

Data of this kind may well convince the Federal Reserve that the economy is robust enough to withstand further increases in the ultra-short-term interest rate it directly controls.

此类数据或可令美联储确信,经济已足够强劲,足以承受其直接掌控的极短期利率的进一步上调。

Last week the Fed raised the federal funds rate for the first time since 2023, aiming to cool the economy and dissipate some of the momentum behind inflation.

美联储上周自2023年以来首次上调联邦基金利率,意在为经济降温并消解部分通胀动能。

Traders are betting that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this year and next, a move that has already driven up yields on shorter-dated US Treasuries.

交易员们正押注于美联储将于今年及明年再度加息,此举已推高较短期限美国国债的收益率。

It is by no means only in the US Treasury market that yields are trending upward; as investors watch debt burdens and inflation continue to climb across continents, yields are rising broadly around the globe.

绝非仅美国国债市场收益率呈上行态势;伴随投资者目睹各大洲债务负担与通胀持续攀升,全球收益率亦普遍走高。

The yield on 10-year German government bonds, long venerated as one of Europe's safest lending benchmarks, has now crept towards 3.60%, revisiting levels last seen in 2008.

德国10年期国债收益率素来被奉为欧洲最为稳妥的放贷标的之一,眼下已逼近3.60%,重返2008年的水准。

Earlier this month, the European Central Bank raised its own interest rates in a bid to rein in inflation.

欧洲央行于本月早些时候调升了自身利率,以期抑制通胀。

Japan's 10-year government bond yield stands at 3.08%, a stark contrast to the negative yields that briefly emerged in 2020, when officials were striving to stimulate the economy.

日本10年期国债收益率报3.08%,相较于2020年官员力图刺激经济之际一度出现的负收益率,可谓天壤之别。

September 24th, 2026

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