Yields on key US Treasury bonds reached new highs, but for the 10-year demand was especially strong

JUST IN: US Treasury yields hit fresh 24-year highs as the global bond sell-off intensifies, with the 10-year climbing to 5.36% and the 30-year reaching 5.73%, the highest for each since 2002.

The 10-year Treasury yield just hit 5.36 percent, its highest since 2002. The 30-year touched 5.73. Twenty four year highs, both of them, as the global bond sell-off keeps rolling, with France, Italy and the UK all getting hit too. Britain's 30-year briefly cleared six percent, a level unseen since 1998.

But here's what caught my eye. The Treasury auctioned 39 billion dollars of 10-year notes into that storm and buyers showed up with 108 billion. Foreign central banks and other indirect bidders took 80 percent of it, way above average. Expensive debt, yes. Unwanted debt, no.

The IMF's Kristalina Georgieva says the easy ride is over, seventeen years of cheap money, done, and the AI boom is making it worse. Case in point, reports say SpaceX wants to borrow 40 billion dollars just to buy Nvidia chips. Every one of those borrowed billions competes with governments for the same lenders.

So the real story isn't the highs. It's that at 5.3 percent, the world is still happy to lend America money. For now.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.