NEW YORK – The US bond market was shaken again on Friday (April 11) following a massive sell-off of government bonds by foreign investors amid declining confidence in the US economy.

As a result of the large-scale sell-off, the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds, as reported by Refinitiv, surged to 4.497% during the last trading session of the week, Friday (April 11). This level is the highest since February 20, 2025. The 10-year US Treasury yield increased by 0.506 basis points over the week, marking the largest weekly rise since 2001.

The swap spread on 30-year bonds briefly widened beyond -100 basis points, the highest negative level since the pandemic. The 10-year yield rose by more than 40 basis points, while the 30-year yield jumped 60 basis points—heading for the largest weekly surge since 1981.

US bond sales are estimated to have reached a value of US$29 trillion, equivalent to Rp486,910 trillion (US$1 = Rp16,790).

The soaring yields, inversely proportional to falling prices, indicate declining demand for these bonds. Bond prices dropped as investors rushed to sell them.

It remains unclear whether the large-scale bond sellers included the Chinese government.

According to data from the US Department of the Treasury, foreign ownership of US government bonds declined from US$8.633 trillion in November 2024 to US$8.513 trillion in December 2024.

The two largest holders of US bonds are Japan and China. Japan reduced its holdings from US$1.087 trillion to US$1.060 trillion in December 2024, while China lowered its holdings from US$768.6 billion to US$759 billion.

“There is significant global pressure to sell government and corporate bonds. There is great concern because they don’t know where Trump’s policies are headed,” said Peter Tchir of Academy Securities, as quoted by Reuters.

An executive from a European bank’s primary trading division added that bond price movements indicate something more serious than normal selling. This condition reflects a total loss of confidence in the world’s strongest bond market.

Previously, global bond funds experienced the largest weekly outflows in over five years on April 9, 2025. According to LSEG Lipper data, investors withdrew a net total of US$25.71 billion from global bond funds during the week, the largest weekly amount since April 1, 2020.

Kevin Hassett, Director of the National Economic Council under President Donald Trump, stated that the facts show the bond market is signaling the US to change course. Seema Shah, Global Strategy Head at Principal Asset Management, added that the bond market is likely causing anxiety within the Trump administration.

“They repeatedly emphasized their focus on bond yields and even celebrated last week when yields fell below 4%. So the market trend reversal, with yields surging, clearly raises major concerns in the White House,” Shah told CNBC International.

Previously, the chaos in the US bond market was suspected to be the event that forced Trump to delay tariff hikes for 90 days. (DK/MT/LM)