Marketmind: Bond steamroller flattens all

The eye-watering surge in long-term U.S. government borrowing costs continues to pummel world markets everywhere as investors fear 30-year yields above 5% are bound to sow financial distress somewhere in the system. With U.S. Congress again riven by the overnight ouster of the House speaker and Federal Reserve officials teeing up yet another interest rate hike amid persistently tight jobs market readings, bond yields are spiralling ever higher. Renewed concerns about a government shutdown next month now follow the removal of speaker Kevin McCarthy late on Tuesday – an unprecedented ejection of a Speaker by his own party.