Global Bond Rates Are Rising. What Should You Do Now?

“Soaring” global bond yields.Global bond “sell-offs.”Headlines in recent days have included many scary words.

But what do they mean for you and your money?As ever, the answer is this: It depends.It depends on whether you own bonds, what bonds you own and how soon you may need the money you invested.Many people who invest through popular funds in their workplace retirement accounts may know little about their bond holdings, even if they remember that they have roughly 30 percent of their money in bonds.The good news is that for now, the tumult in the bond markets has not caused big losses in most people’s portfolios.

Still, a bit more vigilance is wise at a time like this.In fact, it can be reassuring.Here are some questions worth asking.What’s happening with the bond market right now?When an investment appears increasingly risky, investors demand to be paid more to take on that risk — and right now, that’s essentially what’s happening in the government bond market.Though the bond market has been increasingly volatile in recent months, investors around the world sold off government bonds at a faster clip on Tuesday, which caused prices to drop and pushed bond yields, along with interest rates, to recent highs.Investors are worried about a variety of risks: mounting government debt levels, the U.S.-led war in Iran and its effect on oil prices and inflation, and the heavy borrowing and spending on artificial intelligence.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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