BREAKING: Japanese banks sold -$16 billion of foreign bonds in September, their largest monthly sale since February. This also marks their 9th consecutive monthly sale, the longest streak since 2022. As a result, sales of foreign debt by Japanese banks in the first 9 months of 2026 were the largest for that period since 2005. Japanese financial institutions have turned to domestic government bonds, whose yields have surged to their highest levels in 3 decades. Over the 5 months ending in August, large banks and insurers bought +$34 billion of Japanese government bonds with maturities of 2 years or more, their largest 5-month purchase since the start of 2023. Global bond demand is undergoing a historic shift as yields rise.