Japan’s auction of 30-year sovereign notes Thursday is shaping up as a barometer of policymakers’ success in quelling debt-market turmoil that pushed yields on the nation’s super-long bonds to record highs in May.
Yields have stepped down from their peaks, helped by the Ministry of Finance adjusting issuance to sell fewer super-long bonds, and by the Bank of Japan slowing its pullback from debt purchases. Recent sales of shorter-maturity securities have also gone smoothly.