LONDON, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Global bond markets are still functioning in an orderly fashion, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, following the recent sharp rise in yields that has driven world borrowing costs to their highest levels in decades.
The 10-year US Treasury yield, the yardstick for global borrowing costs and asset prices, rose as high as 5.34% on Thursday, reaching its highest point since 2002. [MKTS/GLOB]
It also posted its biggest quarterly rise this century in the three months to September, with the selling pressure pulsing through other major countries’ markets from France and Britain in Europe to Japan in Asia.
“What we see globally is that bond markets are continuing to function in an orderly manner,” IMF spokesperson Julie Kozack told reporters during a press conference.
Kozack also said energy prices remained a challenge for the global economy, with diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel prices up between 60% and 97% relative to pre-conflict levels, reflecting both the impacts of the Iran war and limited global refining capacity.
“We’ve seen that the energy shock, which is part of what’s feeding headline inflation, is not over yet,” Kozack said.
(Reporting by Marc Jones and Libby George; Editing by Toby Chopra, Aidan Lewis)
