Rising US Debt Load Poses a Growing Risk for Treasury Market

  • US election result not seen halting runaway spending and debt
  • Industry experts see Treasury sales lifting long-dated yields

The US Treasury Department in Washington, DC.

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
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Bond industry leaders see a bleak US fiscal outlook that will keep debt growing and sustain elevated long-dated Treasury yields.

Speaking during a panel discussion at the ISDA/Sifma Treasury forum in New York Wednesday, market participants said spending cuts and tax increases that would address concerns of growing Treasury debt supply remain unlikely — regardless of who wins November’s presidential election. The most worrying scenario, they said, is a clean sweep by one party taking control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.