Treasury Bond

A Treasury bond is a long-term debt security issued by the US federal government, with maturities of 20 or 30 years, paying interest every six months until maturity. Because it is backed by the full faith and credit of the US government, it is treated as one of the closest things to a risk-free asset in global finance.

Treasury bond yields are the base rate everything else in fixed income is measured against: corporate bonds, mortgages, and municipal bonds all price at a spread above the comparable-maturity Treasury yield, so a move in Treasury yields ripples through borrowing costs economy-wide.