A positively sloped (steep) curve means longer bonds yield more than short ones — investors demand extra for tying up money longer and for inflation risk. Before a big data point like payrolls, traders often stay cautious because a strong number can push yields up (bond prices down) and a weak one can pull yields down (prices up). Remember the price/yield seesaw: when yield rises the price of an existing bond falls, and long-dated bonds move most because they have higher 'duration' (more sensitivity to rate changes).

Hawkish talk (openness to hiking) typically pushes short-dated yields like the 2Y higher, because those maturities track expected central-bank policy most closely; higher expected policy rates mean lower prices on existing short bonds. Traders 'price in' the odds of a hike, so even words can move yields before any actual decision. When the front end reacts more than the long end, the curve can flatten.

A credit spread is the extra yield a company must pay over a comparable government bond to compensate for default risk. Tight spreads (like 78bp) mean investors are relaxed about corporate risk and demand little extra reward. If risk sentiment sours, spreads 'widen' — corporate bond prices fall relative to Treasuries. Watching spreads helps a beginner gauge how much stress the market sees in credit versus safe government debt.

When a central bank buys fewer bonds, it removes a big, price-insensitive buyer — so private investors must absorb more supply, which typically pushes yields up and prices down (the mechanics of 'quantitative tightening'). For Japan, higher JGB yields also affect the carry trade, where investors borrow cheaply in yen to buy higher-yielding assets abroad; rising domestic yields make that trade less attractive and can draw money back home.

Central-bank meetings are when policy is confirmed, so fewer of them means each one carries more weight and information arrives in bigger, lumpier chunks. Between meetings, traders lean more on data and speeches to guess the path of rates, which can amplify yield swings around each event. More uncertainty about policy timing generally means wider trading ranges in short-dated yields.

Government bond markets are globally linked: when US Treasury yields rise, UK gilt yields often drift the same way because investors compare 'safe' sovereign yields across countries. The same price/yield inverse applies to gilts — if yields rise, existing gilt prices fall, and longer-maturity gilts (higher duration) move most. Rising oil prices can also lift yields if traders worry about higher inflation, since inflation erodes the value of a bond's fixed coupon payments.