Is the world helping or hurting Indian shares?
What are central banks doing, and how tight is money?
Over the year to Aug 2026, 7 of the 14 central banks here cut their policy rate and 5 raised it. India's repo rate is 5.25%; after inflation, that is a real rate of +0.4 pts, against a median of +0.5 pts among the peers. The US 10-year Treasury, the world's benchmark price of money, yields 5.28%.
Written for investors who want to know whether money around the world is getting cheaper or dearer. Data to Aug 2026.
Policy rates
The rate each central bank sets, at the end of Aug 2026, against a year earlier. Lower than a year ago: Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, India, United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Higher: Indonesia, Australia, Korea, Euro area and Japan. Turkey's rate, 37.0%, is left off the chart and the panels below.
Policy rates, end of Aug 2026
% a year. * = an earlier month, the latest published. US: the midpoint of the Fed's target range.
How to read it. The bar is the rate now; the open circle, a year earlier. A circle beyond the bar's end means the bank has cut.
- Brazil 14.00%; a year earlier 15.00%
- South Africa 7.00%; a year earlier 7.00%
- Mexico 6.50%; a year earlier 7.75%
- Indonesia 5.75%; a year earlier 5.00%
- India 5.25%; a year earlier 5.50%
- Australia 4.35%; a year earlier 3.60%
- United Kingdom 3.75%; a year earlier 4.00%
- United States 3.63%; a year earlier 4.38%
- China 3.00%; a year earlier 3.00%
- Korea* 2.75%; a year earlier 2.50%
- Euro area 2.25%; a year earlier 2.00%
- Canada 2.25%; a year earlier 2.75%
- Japan 1.00%; a year earlier 0.50%
Policy rates by economy
Month end, % a year, shared scale, from 2015.
How to read it. Most panels climbed fast in 2022–23 from near their lows; China and Japan did not. Compare the last year of each panel with its 2023 peak to see who has eased since.
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Real rates
A policy rate means little without inflation beside it. The real rate subtracts the latest year's inflation from the policy rate: above zero, money costs more than prices are rising, which restrains spending; below zero, policy is loose whatever the headline rate says.
Real policy rates, Aug 2026
Policy rate minus consumer price inflation in the same month, percentage points. * = an earlier month.
How to read it. Right of zero: money is dear after inflation. The open circle shows a year earlier; real rates also move when inflation moves, with no change in policy.
- Brazil +9.8 pp; a year earlier +9.9 pp
- Mexico* +5.4 pp; a year earlier +6.5 pp
- South Africa* +4.4 pp; a year earlier +2.8 pp
- Indonesia +2.6 pp; a year earlier +2.7 pp
- China +2.2 pp; a year earlier +3.4 pp
- United Kingdom +0.5 pp; a year earlier −0.1 pp
- India +0.4 pp; a year earlier +3.5 pp
- Japan* +0.4 pp; a year earlier −0.2 pp
- Australia +0.4 pp; a year earlier +0.4 pp
- United States +0.2 pp; a year earlier +1.5 pp
- Euro area* +0.1 pp; a year earlier +0.6 pp
- Korea* 0.0 pp; a year earlier +0.4 pp
- Canada −0.8 pp; a year earlier +0.9 pp
Real policy rates by economy
Monthly, percentage points, shared scale, from 2015. Backward-looking: today's rate minus the past year's inflation.
How to read it. Below zero across most panels in 2021–22: inflation ran ahead of rates. The climb back above zero is the tightening that followed.
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Long-term rates
Ten-year government bond yields price the path of policy rates and inflation over a decade. India is left out: Indian government bond yields are withheld across the site until their licence is settled.
10-year government bond yields by economy
Monthly averages, % a year, shared scale, from 2015. OECD. Turkey left out for scale.
How to read it. Most panels rose from 2022, the end of near-zero yields; China's fell. Japan's stayed the lowest for most of the period, held down by its central bank's cap on yields until 2024.
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US rates
US Treasury yields are the world's benchmark price of money. The curve compares short and long yields; a nominal yield splits into a real yield and the inflation the market expects.
US Treasury yields
Weekly, constant maturity, from 2000. Federal Reserve H.15.
How to read it. The 3-month line follows the Fed's policy rate; the longer lines also price growth and inflation over many years. When the 3-month line rises above the 10-year, the curve is inverted.
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The US yield curve since 1962
Month-end.
How to read it. Below zero the curve is inverted, which has preceded most US recessions, often by a year or more. Inversions have also ended without one, so read it as a warning, not a date.
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Real yields and expected inflation, 10-year
From inflation-protected Treasuries.
How to read it. The nominal 10-year yield is the sum of the two lines. A rising real yield means money is getting dearer after inflation, which weighs on risky assets everywhere.
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The Fed and liquidity
The Fed buys bonds in crises and lets them run off in calmer years. Net liquidity subtracts the cash parked at the Treasury and in reverse repos from the Fed's assets, a popular measure of the dollars actually in the system. The Fed's is the only central bank balance sheet here for now.
Fed balance sheet and net liquidity
Weekly. Net liquidity = Fed assets minus the Treasury's cash account minus overnight reverse repos.
How to read it. The gap between the lines is cash held at the Treasury and in reverse repos. Net liquidity can rise while the balance sheet shrinks if that cash is drawn down.
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US financial conditions
Weekly, from 1994.
How to read it. Zero is average. Above zero, credit is tighter or markets more stressed than usual; the largest spike is the 2008 crisis.
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Stress and funding
Is anything breaking? Three places show it first: a broad stress index built from many markets, the corporate bond market, and overnight dollar funding, where banks borrow against Treasuries. Treasury auctions add a fourth: whether buyers still turn up for US debt. Each reading is placed against its own history; none of it is a forecast.
Global financial stress
OFR Financial Stress Index, weekly from 2000. Built from market variables across credit, equity valuation, safe assets, funding and volatility. OFR re-estimates its history daily.
How to read it. Zero is average stress; above zero, markets are more stressed than usual. The highest reading, 29.3, came in Oct 2008. A long stretch below zero describes calm; it does not promise more of it.
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Corporate bond market distress
NY Fed CMDI, weekly from 2005. 0 is calm, 1 the most distressed.
How to read it. The index combines issuance, prices and trading conditions. Read today's level against the high of 0.81 for all bonds in Dec 2008.
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Overnight dollar funding
Weekly from April 2018, when SOFR began. NY Fed reference rates.
How to read it. Below the line, overnight borrowing against Treasuries clears inside the Fed's range. Above it, cash is scarce. The highest weekly reading here is 22 basis points, in Oct 2025. A weekly view can miss a one-day spike, such as September 2019's.
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10-year Treasury auctions: who took the bonds
One point per auction, from 2008, when bidder shares begin. Shares of competitive bids accepted. Nominal coupons only. The source records the 21 Jun 2019 10-year auction as taken entirely by dealers; it is shown as published.
How to read it. Primary dealers must bid at every auction, so a high dealer share means fewer other buyers turned up.
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| Date | Term | Size, $ bn | Yield | Bid-to-cover | Bid-to-cover pctile | Dealer share | Dealer share pctile | More |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept 2026 | 2-Year | 69 | 4.787% | 2.63 | 52 | 13.2% | 38 | |
| 10 Sept 2026 | 30-Year | 22 | 5.308% | 2.61 | 97 | 2.2% | 2 | |
| 9 Sept 2026 | 10-Year | 39 | 4.834% | 2.71 | 100 | 4.3% | 3 | |
| 25 Aug 2026 | 2-Year | 69 | 4.204% | 2.60 | 42 | 10.9% | 19 | |
| 13 Aug 2026 | 30-Year | 25 | 5.216% | 2.39 | 58 | 11.5% | 32 | |
| 12 Aug 2026 | 10-Year | 42 | 4.683% | 2.53 | 65 | 8.6% | 10 | |
| 27 Jul 2026 | 2-Year | 69 | 4.315% | 2.66 | 68 | 9.4% | 7 | |
| 9 Jul 2026 | 30-Year | 22 | 5.058% | 2.44 | 80 | 10.1% | 15 | |
| 8 Jul 2026 | 10-Year | 39 | 4.580% | 2.59 | 84 | 7.8% | 8 |
US stocks: distance from the high
S&P 500 drawdown, weekly. A derived measure only; index levels are S&P's to license.
How to read it. Zero means the S&P 500 is at a record. The deeper the line, the further US stocks are from their peak.
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What it means for India
India's real policy rate, +0.4 pts in Aug 2026, against the peers' median of +0.5 pts. The gap between India's and US rates is what a foreign investor earns for holding rupees instead of dollars, before the rupee's own moves.
India's real policy rate against the peers'
Repo rate minus CPI inflation (MoSPI), and the median of the other economies (Turkey excluded), monthly, percentage points.
How to read it. Above the median, Indian policy is tighter than the typical peer after inflation. Both lines fell below zero in 2021–22 and recovered as rates rose.
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Policy rates: India and the US
Weekly from 2000, as compiled by BIS. BIS updates India with a lag: its last observation is 17 Jul 2026.
How to read it. The gap between the lines is the rate advantage of holding rupees over dollars. It narrowed when the Fed raised rates faster than the RBI.
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The workings
Data
Every chart has a table view, a CSV download and a link to its published JSON. Bundles are listed in data status.