Japanese government bond yields plunge to July lows as investors flee to safety

Japanese government bond yields plunged across the curve on Friday, with the benchmark 10-year yield falling to its lowest level since June and posting its largest single-day drop since July, as a violent selloff in Wall Street tech giants drove institutional investors into safe-haven sovereign debt. The 10-year JGB yield fell to 2.627%, reversing weeks of gradual tightening, while the two-year yield dropped to 1.731%, its lowest since September. The selloff followed a brutal Wall Street session where the Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.52% to 24,315.00 points, confirming a technical correction, while the S&P 500 fell 4.36% and the Dow Jones dropped 3.44%. The catalyst was a sudden reassessment of the AI boom after the Democratic victory in US Congress, raising fears of stricter antitrust enforcement and environmental oversight. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 6.4%, with the liquidity shock overriding the Bank of Japan's hawkish stance from its September meeting minutes.