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Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Thursday December 21st and this is your

F-T news briefing. A global rally in government debt is surpassing everyone's expectations.

And people in China are opting out of the country's state health insurance system.

Plus, we look at whether factories can help employ India's massive population.

Unlike its neighbors China or Bangladesh,

India is not known as the factory for the world, but it's hoping to become one.

I'm Joanna Gao, in for Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. The Bond market is in the middle of an epic rally.

Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields fell below 4% on Wednesday

and have dropped by almost a full percentage point since the end of October.

Now, remember with the bond market as yields fall, prices go up.

The rally blows past what major banks had forecast yields to be by the end of 2024.

That's more than a year early.

Investors have been super optimistic ever since the Federal Reserve signaled it might start cutting interest rates sometime next year.

Swaps markets are now pricing in six interest rate cuts from the U.S. Central Bank in 2024.

At the end of October, the expectation was just three.

An unprecedented number of people are foregoing health care coverage in China.

Millions have dropped out of the state health insurance system in the past year,

and enrollment could fall even further this year. That could have some pretty

significant consequences for the world's second largest economy. The F.T.'s Sun U

has been following the issue and joins me now. Hello?

...