Markets try to find their footing after House passes massive Trump bill despite debt concerns

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 05/22/2025

The fear is that the government will continue to ignore rapidly expanding debts and deficits.

Bond investors sent government borrowing costs surging Thursday after the House gave its narrow, early-morning approval to a multitrillion-dollar spending and tax-cut bill sought by President Donald Trump.

The yield, or the percentage return owed to investors, on U.S. bonds that pay off after 10 years climbed to as much as 4.623%, the highest level since February. The yield on the 30-year Treasury note climbed as high as 5.14% — levels last seen in 2023, and before that, 18 years prior.

Stocks opened flat, while bitcoin sustained a near all-time-high price above $111,000.

The fear is that the government will continue to ignore rapidly expanding debts and deficits. Although the Trump administration has portrayed the spending bill as a means of sparking economic growth that can boost federal revenues, third-party analysts including the Congressional Budget Office and the Penn Wharton Budget Model say those projections are overly optimistic. Instead, they say, the bill is likely to keep the United States’ fiscal situation on its current trajectory.

That track itself is — by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s own admission — already “unsustainable.”

By: Rob Wile May 22, 2025

Read the full story here NBC News