The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that a global sell-off in government bonds intensified Tuesday, pushing borrowing costs in some of the world's largest economies to the highest levels in decades. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe says the moves threaten to ripple through a wide range of debt, including business loans and mortgages for already-stretched consumers. A combination of factors are prompting investors to demand higher returns to hold government debt: a flood of borrowing by the world's richest nations, expanding budget deficits, persistent inflation and few signs that countries are able or willing to take steps to improve these conditions. The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes, the world's most influential interest rate, reached its highest since January, 2025, briefly hitting 4.8 per cent, and the yield on the 30-year bond continued to hover around a two-decade high. The rise in yields reflects a drop in prices. The factors pushing up bond yields in the U.S. are also issues in other big markets. Stocks around the world dropped Tuesday. The S&P 500 fell, as did Japan's Nikkei, while the Stoxx Europe 600 slipped half a per cent and the S&P/TSX composite dropped 444.75 points.