Ten-year Treasury yield hit 4.78% on Tuesday, Sept. 1, its highest since January 2025

The 30-year yield sat near 5.25%; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the rise "a growth story" and said, "I don't think we are in any kind of a dire situation."

The 10-year Treasury yield — the interest rate the U.S. government pays to borrow money for 10 years, set by traders every day — was reported at 4.78% to 4.79% on Tuesday, Sept. 1. That is its highest level since January 2025. The 30-year yield was near 5.25% and the two-year yield was 4.37%. Annual U.S. inflation was last reported at 3.4% for July, above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Bessent said stronger growth was a major driver of the rise, and that growth was picking up again. (TS: Real GDP grew 2.1% and 1.5% annualized in the first two quarters of 2026, after 3.8% and 4.4% in mid-2025 — BEA.) Higher Treasury yields push up mortgage, auto-loan and other consumer borrowing costs.

What a yield near 4.8% costs buyers and the Treasury:

Freddie Mac's average 30-year mortgage rate — a weekly survey of what lenders are charging — was 6.66% on Aug. 27, up from 6.43% on July 2. On the $431,400 median existing-home price with 20% down, that is about $52 more a month, or $628 a year.
Borrowing is still cheaper than the last time the 10-year sat at this level: Freddie Mac averaged 7.04% the week of Jan. 16, 2025.
Treasury's next 10-year and 30-year auctions — the scheduled sales where the government borrows new money from investors — are Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.

ContextFederal debt stands at $37.6 trillion — 122.40% of GDP and $110,069 per person in 2025 (Treasury Fiscal Data, BEA, Census via FRED). Old bonds get replaced at whatever rate the market charges that day. So a 10-year near 4.8% locks in a higher interest bill for years. Bessent had faulted the prior Treasury for managing the bond market for effect, then expanded debt buybacks himself, in which Treasury purchases back its own older bonds. Bloomberg reported Tuesday (Sept. 1) that the program's gains had been erased. Federal interest payments were running at a $1,247 billion annual rate in the second quarter of 2026 (Bureau of Economic Analysis), above the $1,198 billion rate for national defense: interest now costs more than the military. Debt held by the public is $31.5 trillion as of the first quarter of 2026, so each extra percentage point of interest is about $315 billion a year once the debt reprices — roughly a quarter of the defense budget.