Bitcoin, Stocks and Gold Rip Higher While Bond Market Fear Festers

The session offered some breathing room after a bruising stretch in which rising long-term Treasury yields repeatedly hammered stocks lower. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 104.12 points, the NYSE Composite gained 194.68 points, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ripped 517.84 points higher, and the S&P 500 tacked on 32.83 points during Friday’s trading session.

Even with that bounce, the real pressure point remained the bond market. Long-term Treasury yields had climbed toward multi-year highs as investors wrestled with sticky inflation, relentless government borrowing, and the swelling interest bill attached to federal debt. Higher yields bite because they raise financing costs for households and companies, while simultaneously making future corporate profits worth less in today’s dollars.

Treasury Relief Fails to Kill the Fear

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s plan to expand purchases of outstanding longer-dated government bonds initially took some heat out of markets during the week. Those buybacks can lift bond prices and, in turn, push yields lower. But the relief proved thin because investors stayed locked on the forces driving yields higher, including massive deficits and oil-driven inflation risks tied to tensions involving Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. 30-year Treasury bond yield stands at 5.273%.