World’s Bond Markets: Bloomberg

Bonds are generally considered safe investments, and demand pushes yields down. Confronting low wages and low inflation, central banks struggle to raise interest rates. The number of negative-yield bonds is growing: These are worth less than the principal invested when held to maturity. Governments may take on excessive debt as bond issuers essentially charge investors for holding their money. Such trends can threaten savings for pensions, investors, governments and ordinary investors while encouraging risk-taking and bubbles. “Negative-yielding debt topped $13 trillion in June, having doubled since December, and now makes up around 25% of global debt,” reports John Ainger for Bloomberg. “The U.S. is one of the few outliers, with none of its $16 trillion debt pile yielding less than zero, but across the world, strategists are warning that the problem may get worse.” Analysts worry about another global financial crisis as borrowers take on excessive debt and investors take excessive risks, driving up the costs of real estate or other assets that could lead to unsustainable bubbles. – YaleGlobal