What the "bonkers" bond market means for you

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 April 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

U.S. government bonds have long been seen as a steady, reliable place for investors. So why has this safe 'merry-go-round' option turned into a rickety roller coaster ride? We step into the financial markets theme park to explain.

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	NPR.
0:12.4	This is the Indicated From Planet Money.
0:14.2	I'm Patty Hirsch.
0:15.4	And I'm Whalen Wong.
0:16.8	The government bond market is not usually a particularly exciting place.
0:21.4	I mean, how unexciting you can imagine the financial markets as a theme park.
0:27.4	Yeah, over there you've got the roller coaster with a 250 foot drop.
0:31.0	That's the stock market.
0:34.1	That bizarre looking loop the loop thingy over there.
0:36.2	That's junk bonds.
0:37.2	And then there's that little mini railway that runs around the outside of the park with
0:41.7	a driver in a funny hat.
0:43.9	That is the government bond market.
0:47.0	Safe, boring, dependable.
0:49.8	If you invest in a US government bond, also known as a treasury security, you are pretty
0:55.4	certain to get your money back.
0:57.3	The risk of that not happening is like microscopically small.
1:00.6	Yeah, which is why the market in US Treasuries is so dull.
1:04.0	Well, usually.
1:05.0	As we've reported, over the last few weeks, the Treasury's market has become one of the
1:08.8	scariest places on Wall Street.
1:11.4	That little kiddie railroad has turned into the screaming corkscrew of horrifying mayhem.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.