News Summary

• Bond markets have tumbled over economic concerns, even as stocks have hit record highs.
• To understand why the sell-off matters, it helps to understand how bond markets work.
• Bonds are critical to the economy because they influence interest rates that people pay on many things.
• The yield on the 30-year government bond, for example, hit its highest level since 2007 this week.
• The u.s. debt pile is growing: On Wednesday, the Treasury Department said federal debt hit a record-shattering $40 trillion.