U.S. 10-year bond yield touches 5.342%, the highest level since 2002

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds touched 5.342% on Thursday, 1 October 2026 — the highest level in 24 years, surpassing the 2007 peak and marking the highest point since the beginning of 2002, as Reuters reports. The new record comes just one day after the yield had touched 5.304% on Wednesday, 30 September.

The quarterly rise in the yield is the largest of this century, while the third quarter closed as the worst quarter for bonds since 1994. At the same time, the yield on 30-year bonds reached 5.66%, also the highest level since 2002.

The U.S. Treasury is increasing long-term bond purchases — so-called buybacks — in an attempt to soften the sell-off in the market, but the intervention has had little effect so far. According to analysts, the main driver of the rise is the market expectation that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for longer, following signals from Chair Jerome Powell of further monetary tightening in his Jackson Hole speech on 28 August.

The tensions were also reflected in the stock market: on Thursday morning, Dow Jones index futures fell to a quarterly low.