US debt tops $40 trillion, pushing up bond yields
The gist
US national debt has topped $40 trillion, helping push government bond yields up this year.
The IMF sees global debt at 100% of GDP by 2029, a year earlier.
How it unfolded
- 2025Global sovereign debt reached a high of $348 trillion, and Congress set a debt limit giving the Treasury authority to borrow $41.1 trillion.
- 2025 Q3Global debt surged to nearly $346 trillion, about 310% of world GDP, according to an Institute of International Finance (IIF) report.
- Apr 28, 2026JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned rising government debt could trigger a crisis in the bond market.
Key terms
- bond yields
- The return an investor earns from holding a bond, usually expressed as a percentage of its price.
- IMF
- An international financial institution and UN agency that promotes global monetary cooperation, financial stability, and trade, and lends to members in balance-of-payments crises.
- midterms
- US general elections held near the midpoint of a president's four-year term, when all House seats and about a third of Senate seats are contested.
Source: Wikipedia