The most important chart in finance isn't a stock index. It's the shape of what the government pays to borrow money, from a month out to thirty years. When that shape turns upside down, the bond market (historically the level-headed one) is quietly betting on trouble. My read: it's stopped shouting recession, but it hasn't given the all-clear either, which is a more uncomfortable place to sit than either extreme.
01 · THE SHAPE OF MONEY
Today's curve against the deeply inverted shape of mid-2023.
Learn more: Treasury constant-maturity yields (FRED)
02 · THE SIGNAL
Boil the whole curve down to one number and you get the spread between the 10-year and the 2-year. Below the line is inverted — the recession tell that has fired before every modern US downturn.
Below zero = inverted. One of the longest inversions on record, now re-steepened.
Learn more: 10Y−2Y spread (FRED) · NY Fed recession model
03 · THE VERDICT
Put the shape and the signal together and you get the bond market's current read.