Investors are increasingly buying the debt of tech companies instead of US Treasurys, pushing up government bond yields.
The quantity of US government debt is already sky-high — $31 trillion, compared to $4.5 trillion in 2007 — equivalent to more than 100% of GDP. But lenders such as pension funds and insurers now have “a wider menu of options,” one analyst told Bloomberg, including long-maturity debt from AI hyperscalers.
The competition has kept US 30-year bond yields above 5% for the longest period since 2008. It makes Washington’s efforts to finance its debt that much more painful, Axios noted, and means mortgage rates are unlikely to fall.