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With America's debt mounting and oil prices on the rise again, the bond market has been gripped by a sell-off this week.

Market jitters were first triggered last week, following Scott Bessent's plan to have the Treasury as much as double its long-dated bond purchases. The move briefly quelled yields, but they rose again as investors feared the government wasn't tackling the big fiscal issues that have been driving yields higher all year.

In the days that followed, a flare-up of US-Iran tension has driven oil back within striking distance of $100 per barrel, throwing fuel on inflation fears and recalibrating rate outlooks.

The 10-year Treasury yield on Wednesday was about 4.8%, the highest since 2023.

From consumer prices to personal finance, here's how the big bond market sell-off could impact your wallet.

What it means for your investment account

Higher bond yields can present a problem for stocks for a couple of reasons. For one, they offer a compelling alternative to equities. The thinking is, why risk the stock market when you can get a nearly risk-free rate of 5% socking your money into Treasurys.

The other reason has to do with higher borrowing costs and credit risk for companies. A higher cost of debt eats into earnings. For companies with shakier balance sheets, rising borrowing costs could threaten the overall health of the company.

All of this means one thing: potentially weaker stock returns. The stock market has already shed some of its summer gains as government bonds have convulsed this week, but more volatility could be coming. 5% has been the threshold to watch for the 10-year to know if more pain might be coming for stocks.

For stock investors looking to hedge rising yields, BlackRock's top US strategist this week told Business Insider to focus on dividend-paying stocks and quality stocks, defined as shares of companies with stable earnings growth, high free cash flow, strong balance sheets, and strong competitive advantage.

Consumers could see higher mortgage rates and a tougher job market

It's not just investors who need to know what's going on in the bond market. Higher yields have implications for Main Street, too.

The bond market is signaling that it sees higher rates on the horizon for a variety of reasons. For consumers, that's important because it suggests that the Federal Reserve likely won't cut interest rates soon. Chair Kevin Warsh has held rates steady this summer, though they remain historically elevated. Some economists — and Fed governors — expect at least one hike this year. Some banks see as many as three hikes through early 2027.

Warsh said in his Jackson Hole keynote address last week that his top priority is taming inflation.

According to Marcus Sturdivant Sr., managing member at advisory firm, The ABC Squared, bond market volatility will impact anyone with adjustable rate payments, most likely those dealing with mortgage or auto loans.

"The cost of borrowing for Main Street and the requirements to obtain capital will tighten or restrict," he told Business Insider.

Treasury yields influence a variety of consumer loan products, and their rise could lead to more expensive mortgage rates, auto loans, credit card rates, and personal loans.

However, a silver lining may be higher rates paid on savings accounts.

The already-sluggish real estate market in many areas could be poised for a sharper slowdown. Higher mortgage rates mean higher monthly payments. The 30-year mortgage rate edged toward 6.8% this week, pumping up borrowing costs while home prices remain elevated. Higher mortgage rates could also exacerbate the "lock-in effect," with current owners opting to stay put rather than move and buy a new home at higher rates than their current mortgage.

Business leaders, meanwhile, might find themselves pinching pennies. The ripple effects of a bond sell-off and high interest rates will mean that it costs more to borrow money, leaving companies with less money to hire workers and offer raises. Job seekers could see a slowdown in an already brutal market.

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Samuel O'Brient

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Samuel O'Brient is an experienced financial markets and business journalist who has written extensively on a wide range of topics involving economics, technology and public policy. At Business Insider, he covers important macro and micro economic stories, including takes from leading economists and hedge fund managers, breaking IPOs,  corporate bankruptcies, meme stocks and short-selling. He also writes on other markets such as crypto, oil and real estate.He has interviewed many of the market’s most influential voices, ranging from top economists such as Mark Zandi and Richard Thaler to prominent investors including Danny Moses, Andrew Left, Anthony Scaramucci, Louis Navellier and Grant Cardone.Programs such as LiveNOW from Fox , Taking Stock and Ticker News have had Samuel on to discuss stock market and economic developments. His reporting has been cited by The New York Times DealBook, Bloomberg Radio, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Gizmodo and TheFutureParty.Samuel began at InvestorPlace, covering investing, retail trading and macro economic trends. Prior to joining Business Insider,  he served as a technology markets reporter at TheStreet. He is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Trinity College Dublin.Samuel's work has appeared in publications such as TipRanks, EV and Observer. When he isn't chasing down stories, he can often be found browsing book and record shops. To reach Samuel, email him at [email protected] or connect with him on LinkedIn. He is also on Signal as Samuel Clemens. 

Allie Kelly

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Allie Kelly is a reporter on Business Insider’s economy team, where she covers housing and affordability in America’s biggest cities. Her latest project — called “Cost of the City” — is an ongoing deep dive into Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s agenda and life in New York. Allie previously worked on a yearlong investigation into the impact of rising cancer cases on young adults, and a series about retirees' reflections on money and loneliness. She also covers the Federal Reserve.Allie is a frequent guest on various TV and radio programs and a contributor to Business Insider’s Big Business and quicksplainer video series.Before joining Business Insider, Allie covered breaking news at The Dallas Morning News and wrote and edited for The Trace. She is an alum of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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The prize was presented to Clooney by his longtime friend and occasional co-star Laura Dern. The pair first worked together more than 40 years ago on the ill-fated horror sequel Grizzly II: Revenge, shot in Hungary when both were just starting out. Dern has since described Clooney as one of her oldest and closest friends, recalling that he looked out for her like an older brother during the troubled production.

The moment was loosely evocative of Clooney’s recent performance in Jay Kelly, a comedy-drama about the personal travails of a Clooney-esque movie star that culminates with the character receiving a lifetime honor at a swanky Italian film festival. That film, which co-starred Dern, premiered in Venice last year, and the ceremony found festival organizers playing an extended clip of the film that mirrored the ceremony that was unfolding in front of the real thing.

Dern kicked off the tribute following the career spanning highlight reel. She called it a privilege to be in attendance to honor her longtime friend. She hailed him as a talent who has been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories, as a “man of integrity” and someone who is of service in his activism and his fellow actors and filmmakers. “He’s the best friend you could ever have and the funniest person you will ever meet,” Dern said, adding that among his many accolades, he’s been voted People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive not once but twice. “Two times,” she said, doubling it up for emphasis. “Two times!”

In addition to his People repeat, Dern said that Clooney is the ultimate teammate while on set. “You immediately become a better actor. He is a lifeline to pure truth. You are on set with a master. He watches his fellow actors like a hawk. You can feel George rooting for you,” she said. “He only wants everyone to win, and like a camp counselor, he shows up every day reminding us that movie making is a bliss-filled privilege.”

Dern didn’t want to deliver the tribute on her own so she put out the call to some members of his inner circle so they could offer some praise, too, and she read personal notes from Brad Pitt, Adam Sandler, Steven Soderbegh, CAA partner and his longtime agent of 25 years, Bryan Lourd, Alexander Payne and Noah Baumbach.

Said Lourd: “The privilege of being his friend and partner in life in film is one of the great gifts and honors of my life. He has shared his heart, his brain, his talent, his [life] with all of us. He is singular and truly one of the greats.”

Said Payne: “What makes George Clooney such a great actor, director and citizen are his humanity and compassion. Not only that, but for us movie buffs, meeting George is the closest you will ever get to meeting Clark Gable or Cary Grant and what that must have been like. He’s just one of those guys. But when you meet him, he makes you feel like the most important person in the room. He remembers everything, tells jokes, pours great wine, treats everybody the same, makes everybody laugh, shares brutal gossip.”

Said Sandler: “Dern, make sure they know there is nobody who thinks of others ever like George.”

Said Pitt: “This pigeon-toed kid from Kentucky, elder statesman, who when you can’t get Brad Pitt, you know Clooney will show up because he never met an award he wouldn’t run to — he’s getting a lifetime achievement award? So what? Why do we love George Clooney? He’s a rogue, a prankster, an altruist, an actor, an athlete, the only guy you want in a crisis, a father, a husband, a global citizen, a defender of justice and a really bad dancer.”

Though he didn’t bust any moves, Clooney did deliver a powerful speech that had all eyes on him following a lengthy standing ovation.

He kicked it off with something light. “You know when they tell you that you’re going to be getting a lifetime achievement award, there are really only two things that come to mind,” he explained. “The first is what an incredible honor this is. And then the second is, do they know something that I don’t?”

He then got serious by honoring those that got him to where he is at this place in his career when he can accept such an honor.

“I’ve been an actor for 45 years now, and looking back, it sounds like it’s intentional, like I had a plan, but I didn’t. For the most part, I was just trying to pay the rent, avoid moving back to Kentucky to cut tobacco, which is what I used to do. When you start reflecting on the years, you realize you really didn’t have a career as much as a series of happy accidents,” he said. “Somebody gave me my first job, somebody else gave me my second job. A director saw something in me that I was yet to see. A writer wrote better lines than I deserved. A crew member made me look like I knew what I was doing. A star, like Laura, was kind enough to let me learn from them. And over time, you begin to realize that nobody arrives anywhere on their own.”

He said he’s learned a lot over the years by coming to places like Venice and experiencing world cinema. “Nobody laughs in a different language. Nobody cries in a different language. Parents worry the same. Kids dream the same. Love looks remarkably similar in language, which makes it hard to believe that we’re as different as we’re constantly being told. We’re living through a moment in time where people in charge, the people with the most money are telling us to fear one another,” he said, nodding to the fraught political times. “But we know better than that, don’t we?”

Then he delivered the exclamation point: “The first people that authoritarians tried to shut down are not politicians. They’re journalists who ask questions. They’re the artists who refuse simple answers. They’re the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians who insist that someone you have never met is deserving of your empathy. Stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear. The people who are afraid of books and music and stories, they’re never the heroes in history. So yes, movies don’t stop wars. They don’t lower inflation. They don’t fix elections, but they do do something remarkable. They remind us that a stranger is never a stranger and that he might just be the hero in somebody else’s story. And if we can still sit together in the dark and care about people that we have never met, I think maybe we’ll be OK.”

Clooney’s history with Venice — both the festival and the city — runs uncommonly deep, though. His transition from television star to major movie leading man gained momentum at Venice when Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight screened at the festival in 1998, marking Clooney’s first appearance on the Lido. Over the intervening years, Clooney became a Venice staple, with some of the strongest films of his career debuting there, including the contemporary classic Michael Clayton (2007), the Coen Bros’ Burn After Reading (2008) and Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity, among numerous others. Clooney’s transition from leading man to director also received direct support from Venice, as his breakthrough Good Night, and Good Luck premiered in competition and won the festival’s screenplay prize for Clooney and Grant Heslov, on its way to earning six Oscar nominations. And on a more personal note, George and Amal Clooney brought the world’s eye to the city on the water when they held their lavish wedding celebrations at the Aman Venice Hotel in 2014. 

“I’ve had so many extraordinary moments in Venice,” Clooney said in a statement when news of his career honor was unveiled in July. “This festival is without question my favorite and to be given the Golden Lion is a tremendous honor. It also probably means I’m old, but I’ll take it.”

He also took his time to soak up the scene and please the throng of fans that had been waiting for him along the corridor, some of whom had started lining up yesterday. Clooney was the rare Hollywood star who greeted the entire crowd of fans from the beginning of the barricade all the way to the far back as he posed for photos, signed autographs and flashed his megawatt smile. His wife, Amal, waited for him near the entrance to the theater as she spent time catching up with Dern and fellow attendee Jewel. Clooney also jumped into the photographer’s pit multiple times to pose with the crush of shutterbugs, even grabbing a camera at one point and snapping a group photo.

Other attendees at the opening night ceremony included Jonathan Bailey, Nicholas Galitzine, Chase Sui Wonders, Nina Dobrev, Zazie Beetz, Alessandra Ambrosio, The Shards star Hayes Warner, Brittany Snow, Owen Thiele, Mary Beth Barone and more.

Clooney’s emotional tribute — which included a musical performance by Tutti Fenomeni with “Love is Not Enough” — was followed by the festival’s opening-night world premiere of Danny Boyle’s Ink, a Rupert Murdoch drama starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy that is competing for the Golden Lion. Over the next 10 days, Venice will unveil a slate of high-profile competition premieres including Robert Pattinson thriller Primetime, Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back and Florian Zeller’s Bunker. A seven-member jury led by Maggie Gyllenhaal will choose the Golden Lion and the festival’s other main competition prizes, with the winners unveiled at Venice’s closing ceremony on Sept. 12. %!s()

Patrick Steinfeld, the lawyer representing the family of the 14-year-old girl D4vd is accused of sexually assaulting, murdering, and dismembering, is disputing the singer’s claim that he is indigent and entitled to a public defender.

In a statement obtained by Rolling Stone, the lawyer for the family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez alleges the singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, is concealing assets in companies he owns and through money he transferred to his mother, Colleen Burke. Steinfeld argues that the public should be angered that a platinum-selling artist is seeking publicly funded representation.

“It is unfathomable that our justice system qualifies David Anthony Burke as indigent when D4VD has 5+ billion streams with 16 million monthly listeners on a single streaming platform, and controls three corporations,” Steinfeld wrote in the statement. “The residents of Los Angeles County should be outraged because it will be the taxpayers that are picking [up] the tab to defend this millionaire on charges of murder, continuous sexual assault of a minor under 14 years of age, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.”

Steinfeld quoted from testimony at Burke’s preliminary hearing, where Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman questioned Benjamin Greger, a former financial manager at Burke’s management company, Mogul Vision. Greger testified that Burke took home roughly $10 million to $11.5 million in gross earnings through recording, merchandising, and music-publishing deals and that Greger discussed transferring Texas properties held in Burke’s name to his mother, Colleen Burke.

“Do you remember testifying that the reason you told her to do that was to protect his estate from any civil suit, so the victim’s family wouldn’t be able to…get…that money?” Silverman asked at the hearing in July.

“I do recall, yes,” Greger testified.

The Rivas Hernandez family attended each day of the preliminary hearing but did not speak to the media during the proceeding.

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“We as a family only want justice for Celeste and for whoever is responsible to face the full force of the law. And we thank everyone for supporting our daughter in every way,” the family said in a new statement shared with Rolling Stone this week.

Burke, 21, was arrested in April and pleaded not guilty to his charges at a rearraignment on Monday. His lawyer, Los Angeles County Public Defender Walid Kandeel, began representing D4vd immediately Monday after Burke’s high-powered private legal team, including Blair Berk and Marilyn Bednarski, handed the case over to him.

At the hearing, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo asked Kandeel if his office needed more time “to see if Mr. Burke qualifies” for a public defense. Kandeel said the office was “prepared” to move forward and was seeking appointment.

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“We’re not at liberty to disclose financial information. Our office has done a thorough financial evaluation and determined that David Burke is eligible for representation by the Public Defender’s Office,” a spokesperson for the office said in a statement sent to Rolling Stone.

Judge Olmedo decided in July that there was enough evidence to send Burke to trial. Prosecutors say Burke sexually abused Rivas Hernandez for more than a year before killing her in April 2025 when she threatened to expose the alleged abuse. They claim he dismembered her in his garage using a chainsaw and hid her remains in the front trunk of his Tesla. %!s()

The party leader in England and Wales started campaigning alongside his fellow Green, Hannah Spencer, the MP for Gorton and Denton, in the Holborn area on Tuesday, and is seriously considering putting himself forward as the party’s candidate in the seat vacated by Keir Starmer on Monday.

Green party sources said local party members would have the final say on the selected candidate, but the Guardian understands local members are supportive of Polanski running, with no clear local activist with significant support expected to oppose him. It is understood nominations will open soon and candidates will be selected by the end of next week.

Lorna Jane Russell, the leader of the Greens on the local Camden council, will not stand, having previously expressed a desire to focus on her role as the leader of the opposition at Camden Town Hall and her pregnancy.

On the anniversary of his election on 2 September 2025, Polanski said the byelection would be a “referendum on ending rip-off Britain”, adding: “I am very excited for the next chapter for myself, for the Greens and for people across the country.”

Sources inside the party in London said that the rise in membership since Polanski became leader made him the favourite for the role.

“There would be a lot of excitement about him standing,” said one Green party source. “This is the kind of seat that has always had high-profile figures and I think having someone with Zack’s profile would play very well with local party members.”

The move is not without risk for Polanski, with the former prime minister’s seat traditionally considered to be safe for Labour. The Green party leader may prefer to contest a seat in Hackney, where the party has recently won the mayoralty, if a sitting MP such as Diane Abbott were to step down. In a difficult political climate in the May local elections, Labour lost seats but held on to Camden council. “This is not Gorton and Denton,” said one Labour source. “The Burnham bounce will help.”

Tulip Siddiq, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate, said party members were already out campaigning and were confident they could retain the seat. “I know Camden through and through and I do believe that we can win this,” she said.

Siddiq added: “I think the Labour vote is resilient and I think Andy Burnham’s pledges on the doorstep are being gratefully received by people in Camden. Certainly I’ll be out campaigning every day and giving it my best shot.”

Labour will not run an all-women shortlist and will announce their candidate by next Wednesday, with applications closing on Friday and shortlisting expected by the start of next week.

The frontrunner is thought to be Sagal Abdi-Wali, who came to the UK as a child refugee from Somalia and has been the leader of Camden council since May. “She’s got a compelling personal story and can reach people from all faiths and backgrounds in Camden,” said one Labour source. “She’s also been really active in the local party for a long time. Lots of people know her and like her.”

Adam Hug, the former leader of Westminster council who lost his job leading the council when the Conservatives took control of it in May’s local election, is also a mooted name. Other possible candidates are Nash Ali, the former mayor of Camden, and Rishi Madlani, a former Camden councillor.

Abdi-Wali is close to Starmer and local Labour sources said any attempts to bring in a candidate not from the area would be met with fierce criticism. “It will be interesting to see if Burnham has the same appeal in north London as Makerfield,” said one. “A lot of the policies he’s been talking about feel more geared towards the rest of the country, not really London.” %!s()

Then the comeback began in earnest. Major studio executives, in talks with The Hollywood Reporter this summer, are expressing newfound positivity — and not just about the numbers themselves (up 21  percent overall year-over-year). Execs seem more aware than ever that any project, regardless of budget, can capture attention — not just the ones with the highest price tag.

Cut to this September, and Hollywood brows are less sweaty, recent Los Angeles heat wave notwithstanding. The summer delivered $4.6 billion through the last weekend in August, marking an increase of 25 percent over last summer.

Beyond sheer grosses, adding to the sense of relief was the notion that movies from all budget levels were part of the success. Peppered amid the challenges for 2025 were glimmers of hope through successes like Weapons ($270 million globally on a $38 million budget), while modestly budgeted reboots Freakier Friday and Final Destination Bloodlines also turned profits. But that summer’s coffers saw a heavy reliance on franchises: DC’s revamped superhero universe, Disney’s live-action remakes, the 30-year-plus dinosaur saga and so on.

Of course, plenty of headlines about the summer of 2026, particularly the latter half, highlighted the success of titles carrying $225-million-plus budgets. Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day marked a stunning triumph, setting records left and right on its way to becoming the second-highest-grossing movie ever domestically and, as of this week, swinging past Avatar: The Way of Water for No. 3 on the global chart. Universal’s The Odyssey became Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing title and the biggest R-rated success ever, while Toy Story 5 stands as the top-performing entry in the Pixar franchise.

But unlike in years past, these wins don’t tell the whole story. Undoubtedly, rival studios would love to use a One Wish Willow to give themselves a breakout like Focus Features’ Obsession, as its success became arguably the season’s biggest conversation starter. The movie’s path is now one of Hollywood legend: Curry Barker‘s $750,000-budgeted horror film exploded as a word-of-mouth sensation after Focus snatched it up from TIFF’s Midnight Madness, with the project surpassing $500 million worldwide after its May 15 release. Barker scored an eight-figure deal for his next feature, breakout star Inde Navarrette joined the X-Men and the industry was left wondering when this could ever happen again.

As it turned out, it did happen again — two weeks later. Sorta. Kane Parsons, just 20 years old when he adapted his YouTube series for the A24 movie Backrooms, delivered a paranoid horror film that notched nearly $400 million on a $10 million budget. Suddenly, execs were seeing solutions for how to excite the younger audiences who have come to seek entertainment options from content creators rather than cinemas.

Indeed, the previous template for summer movie success — massive budget for IP that the whole world has heard of, traditional marketing and then cross your fingers — felt stale and misguided at times. It didn’t help that multiple June releases following this playbook, including Masters of the Universe, Supergirl and the live-action Moana, all lost money and failed to ignite the zeitgeist. (In an interesting wrinkle, Mattel’s Masters of the Universe, which grossed $113 million globally on a $170 million budget, has become a big streaming title when it hit the home.) Previous summers had seen shoestring-budgeted outliers — think 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, 2004’s Napoleon Dynamite and 2007’s Paranormal Activity — but this year’s successes reflected a steady appetite for freshness, rather than feeling like one-off palate cleansers.

“Big-budget movies built around known IP and franchises, and backed by huge marketing campaigns, have traditionally been the types of films that draw summer audiences,” says Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian. “But in 2026, moviegoers made their choices clear by showing up at movie theaters for an incredibly eclectic mix of films. The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day used their epic scope to deliver the kind of summer popcorn-movie experience we’ve come to expect, while at the same time, micro-budget films like Backrooms and Obsession threw out the rulebook and disrupted the traditional paradigm for summer success in a transformative way.”

This new path comes at a time when studios are wary of breaking the bank on original or non-tentpole concepts but still covet an increase in product. To assuage fears about Paramount Skydance’s planned $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Ellison has vowed that both studios will release 30 combined theatrical features each year. This would represent a significant uptick for both, given that Paramount delivered eight big-screen titles in 2025, while Warner Bros. had 11.

There is debate over the idea of added releases and whether they will feel like dump-offs, but this summer suggests potential. Paramount released the Miramax-produced Scary Movie in June, and the sixth title in the Wayans brothers’ spoof franchise bucked theatrical comedy trends with a $231 million global cume on its $30 million budget. Also following the mold of extending long-running franchises on the cheap were Paramount’s Jackass: Best and Last, managing a profit on a $10 budget despite plenty of recycled clips, and the $18 million-budgeted Insidious: Out of the Further, with the horror series’ sixth title not needing star power to scare up $110 million globally for Sony.

Finding the innovative ideas that Gen Z appears to crave is the trickier part. Studios have shifted priorities, with recently launched specialty labels like Warner Bros. Clockwork and Paramount Primal emphasizing edgier fare. And in the “same but different” mindset for which Hollywood is known, all eyes have turned to YouTube creators, as viral shorts and series become the new IP. Evidently, the industry is finally realizing its mistake in allowing its gatekeeping to shun projects like YouTube stalwart Markiplier’s Iron Lung, the self-distributed horror film with a $3 million budget that stunned Hollywood when it came out of nowhere to gross $51 million earlier this year.

“We don’t want to assume that now everything that hits some view count means that it’s [the next Obsession],” Focus chairman Peter Kujawski recently told Letterboxd about how to learn the right lessons from the summer. “Even some existing films that are a delight to watch at a film festival, often they struggle in the world of a commercial movie theater.”

But for now, hope springs eternal that movies of all sizes and origins continue filling seats in even the months with the highest box office expectation. As Sony film chief Tom Rothman told THR, “All the geniuses who said that theatrical movies were dead, they’re not necessarily right. The marketplace is booming right now, and I’m very optimistic.”

This story appeared in the Sept. 2 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. %!s()