Why everyone is freaking out about bonds right now

🔸 Plus: People in their 20s used the market crash to buy a lot of cheap stock 🔸 Companies are putting microchips in their employees 🔸 If Scott Bessent resigns, the market reaction could be worse 🔸

Your 2-minute guide to demystifying money and making you richer

The markets, year-to-date

• S&P 500: 5,363.36 ⬇️ -8.81%

• FTSE 100: 7,964.18 ⬇️ -3.58%

• Bitcoin: $84,763.16 ⬇️ -9.31%

• GBP to USD: $1.3082 ⬆️ 4.51%

• GBP to EUR: €1.1516 ⬇️ -4.77%

  (As of Friday market close.)

What are bonds and why is everyone freaking out about them?

A reader recently asked Moneyin2 if we would do a post explaining what bonds are, and why they seem to be front-page news right now. One of the reasons the stock market crashed recently is because the bond market reacted badly to President Trump’s interventions into international trade. But why were bonds even involved in this issue? And, er, what are bonds and how do they work? (Asking for a friend!)

It’s a good question. In the real world, the vast majority of people do not know what a bond is. In a 2019 survey, only 8% of Americans could correctly describe a bond — and Americans are usually better-informed about financial issues than the British or Europeans.

So let’s get…