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Economic models you can actually see move. Every curve is computed and every shift is verified. Built for students who want intuition, not just diagrams.

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Educational purposes only, not financial advice. Graphl teaches which economic framework applies and how its mechanism works; it does not solve assessment problems for you.

  1. Library
  2. /
  3. Term Structure of Interest Rates
  4. /
  5. Scenario

Money & Finance · intermediate

Recession fears invert the yield curve

What moves on the Term Structure of Interest Rates diagram

  • Yield curveshifts down (large)

Expected future rate cuts drag long yields below the policy-anchored short end. Inversion is the bond market pricing in a downturn.

Watch it animateQuiz yourself on Term Structure of Interest Rates

Step by step

  1. 1

    Normally the curve slopes up: longer lockups earn higher yields.

  2. 2

    Markets start smelling recession and pile into long bonds, expecting rate CUTS ahead.

  3. 3

    Long yields sink below short yields: the curve inverts.

  4. 4

    An inverted curve has preceded every US recession since the 1960s with about a year's lead. It is the market's most famous warning light.

Where this shows up

Examiners ask this as: inverted yield curve, inversion, recession signal, flight to bonds, long yields fall below short.

Other scenarios on Term Structure of Interest Rates

The central bank starts a hiking cycle →Quantitative easing compresses long yields →