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T-bills briefly topped 4%–is it time to cash in? Wall Street and Asian markets drop, Ford invests $700 million in new Kentucky plant, Yellen says Inflation Act aimed at climate issues, and more financial news.
The 10-year and 1-year Treasury bills topped 4% on Wednesday. It was the first time the yield rose above 4 percent since April 2010 and the highest level for the ten-year since October 2008. In fact, it marked the highest level for the one-year T-bill in over two decades, Yahoo and CNN reported.
The one-year and two-year are currently offering a higher rate than the 10-year Treasury note.
At the end of 2021, the 10-year was slightly above 1.5%.
On Wednesday, the 10-Year Treasury Rate was at 3.97%, and the 1-Year Treasury Rate was at 4.16%, according to YCharts.
Another volatile day on Wall Street on Wednesday, as concerns over broader economic turmoil led to investors continuing to sell off amid fears of global inflation and additional interest rate hikes.
The Dow and the S&P 500 dipped to their lowest level since November 2020. The Dow fell over 125 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 moved down 0.2%, CNN reported.
In Asian markets, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei dropped 2.2% as of lunchtime local time, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 2.8%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 2.2%, while China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite shed 0.9%.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ ASX 200 also pointed down 0.9%.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear held a news conference on Tuesday to announce that Ford Motor Co. is investing $700 million in its Ford Kentucky Truck Plant, which is set to create 500 new hourly jobs in manufacturing.
“The new investment in Kentucky, part of the company’s ‘Ford+ plan’ for growth and value-creation, will support an all-new F-Series Super Duty pickup assembled at Ford’s Kentucky Truck plant in Louisville,” a press release said.
Beshear said Ford’s move was the seventh largest economic investment in the state’s history, WLKY reported.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was asked during an interview with NPR about investments made through the Inflation Reduction Act. The act addresses climate and healthcare but doesn’t do much to fix inflation in the short term, and that has some people concerned.
“We have to address both short-term problems and longer-term problems,” Yellen replied. “And the investments in this historic legislation are mainly geared toward the longer-term issues around climate change, although the Inflation Reduction Act will significantly lower the cost of drugs and health insurance.”
“And those are short-term gains that offset some of the other cost of living increases that Americans are experiencing,” Yellen continued. “We’ve had historic releases of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and Americans have now seen gas prices fall substantially off their peak.”
“So, we’re taking complementary actions but recognize the Federal Reserve has the primary role to play here,” Yellen added.
