(Bloomberg) — Japanese bonds joined a slump in global debt as a rush of corporate-debt sales and concerns over developed-world budgets dragged down European fixed-income securities and Treasuries.
Super-long bonds led losses in Japan, with 30-year yields rising eight basis points to 3.28%, while the yen extended its declines amid political uncertainty in the country. US 30-year bond yields held close to 5% after a spike on Tuesday that weighed on tech shares on Wall Street. Australian bonds also retreated while Asian stocks followed the US lower. The dollar rose for a second day.
Shares of Alphabet Inc. gained more than 7% in after-hours trading after a federal judge ruled Google won’t be forced to sell its Chrome browser.
US Treasuries slumped Tuesday, tracking declines in longer-maturity European bonds at the start of a month that is historically tough for debt markets. The vulnerability of global long-dated government debt reflects the accumulation of heavy spending, which requires rising bond sales to finance, and an overall trust deficit in sovereigns debts.
“A breach of 5% on the US 30-year will likely further increase the focus on these issues,” said Andrew Ticehurst, a strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Sydney. Long bonds are under real pressure from poor deficit and debt metrics in many countries and, in the US, from concerns related to the Federal Reserve, he said.
Despite the recent selloff, global bonds as measured by the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index have still returned 6.7% this year. Tuesday’s drop on that gauge was the worst since June 6.
Borrowers across the globe issued at least $90 billion in investment-grade debt on Tuesday, as parts of global credit markets neared or toppled records in one of the busiest weeks this year.
Meanwhile, bond investors in Japan are also concerned about political uncertainty after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s key power broker within the ruling party said on Tuesday that he’ll quit if Ishiba approves.
Caution surrounding an auction of 30-year bonds Thursday and uncertainty within the Liberal Democratic Party are adding to the selling pressure on super-long bonds.
“As an investor in bonds, I am keeping duration in Japan underweight and avoiding longer maturity bonds everywhere,” said Rajeev De Mello, global macro portfolio manager at Gama Asset Management. “I’m very cautious about the 30-year auction. Global and local factors are pushing yields higher.”
In Australia, bonds declined after the country’s economic growth accelerated in the second quarter, reinforcing the case for the central bank to keep interest rates unchanged later this month.
Traders worldwide are contending with a range of concerns, from key economic data and US tariffs to Fed independence, monetary policy and global fiscal prospects. This comes as the stock market appears to be at a crossroads.
“The curve-steepening pressures are going to remain persistent,” said Kenneth Crompton, a strategist at National Australia Bank. “You have a building series of factors that should add to risk premium in the US curve.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said his administration would ask the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling in hopes of overturning a federal court decision that many of his tariffs were illegally imposed. “The stock market’s down because the stock market needs the tariffs. They want the tariffs,” the president said.
Corporate News:
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. TSMC shares retreated in Taiwan. Alphabet Inc.’s Google will be required to share online search data with rivals while avoiding harsher penalties, including the forced sale of its Chrome business, a judge ruled in the biggest US antitrust case in almost three decades. Apple Inc.’s lead artificial intelligence researcher for robotics has departed the company to join Meta Platforms Inc.’s competing effort, part of an exodus of AI talent from the iPhone maker. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 12:11 p.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.4% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.3% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.2% The Shanghai Composite fell 0.7% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.5% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% The euro was little changed at $1.1630 The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 148.84 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1435 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $111,288.01 Ether rose 0.6% to $4,339.37 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.28% Japan’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 1.625% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 4.43% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $65.49 a barrel Spot gold was little changed This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Ruth Carson and Mia Glass.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.