Rates move everything.
Most candidates can’t tell you where they are.
“What’s the 10-year at?” is the cheapest question an interviewer can ask and the most revealing. It takes four seconds to answer and it tells them whether you read the market or just read about it. Here are the numbers, from the source, with a plain read of what each one is saying.
US 10-year
4.74%
Your risk-free rate, until it isn’t.
US CPI, year on year
3.36%
Still above the 2% target.
2s10s curve
+50bp
Upward sloping, the way textbooks promise.
Straight from US Treasury, BLS, ECB, ONS and the Bank of England. No aggregators, no scraping, no vibes. Last synced 24 August 2026.
Next up on the tape
Full calendar →- 28 AugCounty Employment and WagesUS
- 1 SeptJob Openings and Labor Turnover SurveyUS
- 2 SeptMetropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment (Monthly)US
- 3 SeptProductivity and CostsUS
- 4 SeptEmployment SituationUS
🇺🇸 United States
Everything else on this page is, in some sense, a derivative of these four charts. The Fed sets the front end, the market sets the long end, and the gap between them is the most-watched recession signal in finance.
10-Year Treasury Yield
The risk-free rate every DCF on earth is quietly built on.
Latest: 2026-08-21 · 4.74%
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury ↗4.74% today, up 0.51% over twelve months. That is near the top of its whole history here. Range on the chart: 0.55% (2020) to 5.43% (2001).
2-Year Treasury Yield
The market’s bet on where the Fed goes next. Front-end, so it moves first.
Latest: 2026-08-21 · 4.24%
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury ↗4.24% today, up 0.65% over twelve months. High side of the range, historically. Range on the chart: 0.11% (2020) to 5.16% (2006).
Yield Curve (10Y minus 2Y)
Below zero means the bond market thinks the Fed has gone too far. It has an unnerving track record.
Latest: 2026-08-21 · 50.0
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury ↗50bp today, down 14bp over twelve months. Middle of the historical range. Range on the chart: -106bp (2023) to 284bp (2011).
US Inflation (CPI, YoY)
The print that decides whether the Fed cuts, holds, or ruins your quarter.
Latest: 2026-07-01 · 3.36%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ↗3.36% today, up 0.66% over twelve months. High side of the range, historically. Range on the chart: -2.10% (2009) to 9.06% (2022).
US Unemployment Rate
The other half of the Fed’s mandate, and the half that ends hiking cycles.
Latest: 2026-07-01 · 4.10%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ↗4.10% today, down 0.20% over twelve months. Low side of the range, historically. Range on the chart: 3.40% (2023) to 14.80% (2020).
🇪🇺 Eurozone
One currency, twenty fiscal policies, and a central bank that has to write policy for all of them at once. Watch the AAA yield as the benchmark and remember the real story is always the spread to the periphery.
Euro Area Inflation (HICP, YoY)
Twenty economies, one index, one 2% target nobody hits on purpose.
Latest: 2025-12-01 · 1.90%
Source: European Central Bank ↗1.90% today, down 0.50% over twelve months. Middle of the historical range. Range on the chart: -0.60% (2009) to 10.60% (2022).
ECB Deposit Facility Rate
Once negative, which is a sentence that should still bother you.
Latest: 2026-06-17 · 2.25%
Source: European Central Bank ↗2.25% today, up 0.25% over twelve months. Middle of the historical range. Range on the chart: -0.50% (2019) to 4.00% (2023).
Euro Area 10Y AAA Government Yield
Europe’s risk-free benchmark. Spreads to Italy are where the drama lives.
Latest: 2026-08-21 · 3.27%
Source: European Central Bank ↗3.27% today, up 0.49% over twelve months. High side of the range, historically. Range on the chart: -0.65% (2019) to 4.73% (2008).
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
A small open economy with a large bond market and a long memory. Gilts repriced a government in 2022, which is the most vivid lesson in fiscal credibility any textbook could give you.
UK Inflation (CPI, YoY)
Above 3% and the Governor has to write the Chancellor a letter. It has been a busy few years.
Latest: 2026-07-01 · 2.90%
Source: Office for National Statistics ↗2.90% today, down 0.90% over twelve months. Middle of the historical range. Range on the chart: -0.10% (2015) to 11.10% (2022).
Bank of England Bank Rate
The base every UK mortgage, loan and leveraged deal prices off.
Latest: 2026-08-21 · 3.75%
Source: Bank of England ↗3.75% today, down 0.25% over twelve months. Middle of the historical range. Range on the chart: 0.10% (2020) to 6.00% (2000).
UK 10-Year Gilt Yield
The line that ended a premiership in 2022. Fiscal credibility, priced daily.
Latest: 2026-08-20 · 5.05%
Source: Bank of England ↗5.05% today, up 0.32% over twelve months. That is near the top of its whole history here. Range on the chart: 0.17% (2020) to 5.82% (2000).
Knowing the number is table stakes. Explaining it is the job.
The follow-up is always the same: so what? Why does a 50bp move in the 10-year change your DCF? What happens to leveraged buyouts when the front end goes up? Pull the levers yourself in the Curve Lab, then learn the mechanics in Primer.
Rates are the easy half. Defending a view is the hard half.
A discovery session pressure-tests how you talk about the macro backdrop, the way a real interviewer will. The bootcamps drill it until the answer comes out clean under time.