NPR.

This is the indicator for planet money.

I'm Adrienne Ma.

And I'm Whalen Wong.

The bond market recently gave us a good scare.

This is after President Trump's Liberation Day announcement last month.

You may remember that there was a sell-off in U.S. government bonds.

Yeah, that was alarming because U.S. treasuries are usually this safe haven in times of economic uncertainty.

These bond market jitters reportedly spooked Trump so much that he paused

some of his big tariff plans. And the scariness of what happened with Treasuries has actually

stayed with us, like the lingering dread you might feel after watching a horror movie.

I'm still sweating, Adrian. So today on the show, we confront our fears about the bond market.

We enter a twilight zone of nightmare scenarios for U.S. Treasuries.

Come with us, if you dare, after the break.

Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo. The U.S. Treasury market is massive. We're talking almost $30 trillion worth of outstanding bonds. That's money the U.S. government has borrowed from investors. And it uses that money, along with tax dollars, to fund everything the government does.

Now, most of these bondholders are in the U.S., but investors all around the world are usually clamoring to hold U.S. treasuries.

They know historically that the U.S. pays its debts on time.

And therefore, investors don't demand a high interest rate from the U.S. pays its debts on time. And therefore, investors don't

demand a high interest rate from the U.S. government. This is part of what's known as the U.S.'s

exorbitant privilege. Mark Williams is an economist at a firm called Capital Economics. It

advises central banks and corporations on investment decisions. And Mark says investors' healthy appetite for treasuries keeps prices for these bonds high

and interest rates for government debt low.

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