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What do these high Treasury yields mean for the economy?

Oct 3, 2023
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note reached a 16-year high Tuesday. That benchmark rate lifts interest rates on other loans.
The Federal Reserve's interest rate policy is only part of the equation. Supply and demand for loans also influences yields.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Yellen: U.S. could hit debt limit as soon as June 1

May 1, 2023
The treasury secretary urges Congress to protect nation’s “full faith and credit” by raising the government’s borrowing authority.
In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the treasury secretary urged Congress “to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by acting as soon as possible.”
Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The Treasury Department wants to apply more scrutiny to financial institutions that aren't banks

Apr 25, 2023
Several of them were responsible for the 2008 financial crisis.
Several nonbanks, including Bear Stearns,  were partially responsible for the 2008 financial crisis.
Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Bank regulators face a grilling on Capitol Hill while calming markets and the public

Mar 27, 2023
Besides testifying in hearings, regulators need to get a few messages across, including that the system worked, a PR executive says.
"As far as the overall banking system is concerned, I do think that SVB was an outlier," said Anusha Chari, a professor at UNC Chapel Hill.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Yellen: "Progress on inflation is not going to be a straight line"

The Treasury secretary says "people don't need to lose their jobs" to cool down the labor market.
"There's a great sense of community but an enormous amount of trauma that everyone in Ukraine is experiencing," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says. Above, Yellen at a school in Kyiv earlier this week.
Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images

The origin of the U.S. debt ceiling

Jan 19, 2023
The U.S. government hit its debt ceiling Thursday and must raise the debt limit to avoid defaulting. How did we get here?
With the debt ceiling reached, the U.S. Treasury initiated "extraordinary measures" to avert a government default.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

How a “divorce” between the Treasury and Fed helped build the modern economy

Dec 13, 2022
In the 1950s, the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve reached an agreement that helped create the economy we have today.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Buyers snap up U.S. Treasury I bonds before interest rate deadline

Oct 28, 2022
Treasury's website was overwhelmed as investors clamored for the inflation-adjusted savings bonds to lock in a 9.62% rate.
Amid high inflation and a rocky stock market, I bonds have boomed in popularity. They offer a high yield but are guaranteed by the government.
inte2000/Getty Images

What are stablecoins, and why are regulators worried about them?

Apr 18, 2022
The cryptocurrencies — pegged to "real" currencies that aren't supposed to fluctuate in value — are the bedrock of the crypto economy.
Stablecoins are involved in roughly 80% of cryptocurrency trading and lending transactions and aren't supposed to fluctuate in value. But the Treasury Department is concerned about the potential for a stablecoin run.
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Why the U.S. government would sell bonds that don't need to be paid back

It could help the federal government deal with the debt mountain it's amassing from COVID-19 spending.
Long-term bonds would help the Treasury borrow while locking in the current low interest rates.
Alastair Pike/AFP via Getty Images