The Fed

there are two levers the first is the fed which influences short-term bonds on the left side of the curve in a booming economy the fed raises short-term interest rates also known as yields to rein in borrowing they're trying to limit inflation which can get out of hand when too many people are borrowing and economic growth is moving too quickly but when the economy is stagnant the fed often will lower rates to encourage borrowing right now the fed is slowly slowly raising rates the markets have been trending up for the past 10 years and unemployment is way down so they're betting it's time to raise rates and restrict borrowing