The government bond market is rarely in the news, but the news is rarely good when it is. It’s more than 15 years since the State was unable to fund itself by selling government bonds and every Tom, Dick and Harry became deeply aware of the importance of bond yields. Since then though, things have been relatively quiet.While Irish yields have remained largely stable, globally they have tracked up in recent months and in the US in particular the cost of financing the government has risen steadily. Changes in the US economy nearly always have an impact here and that is likely to continue with the ongoing dislocation in the market there.There have been a few factors at play. Fears about out-of-control spending in the US were crystallised this week with the national debt crossing the symbolic threshold of $40 trillion and no sign politicians will be moving to reduce it any time soon. Perhaps more pertinent has been the fear that inflation will remain well above the Federal Reserve’s 2 per cent target for a long time to come and the newish Fed chairman Kevin Warsh may not be willing to hike interest rates in response. Add to the mix tech companies issuing historically large amounts of debt to pay for artificial intelligence infrastructure, and traders may well have been wary about loading up on US treasuries. Will the upcoming budget drive inflation and increase costs for Irish households? Listen | 29:13Meanwhile, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has taken other, unusual, measures to apparently control treasury yields which the market greeted with some scepticism.So what does all this have to do with the Republic? Well, it just so happens that all this has occurred in the run-up to what is traditionally a busy time for European countries to issue new bonds. The Republic’s National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) has an auction scheduled for September 3rd.With European yields moving higher, there have been suggestions that some countries may be reassessing the debt issuance plans for the month ahead. The NTMA, though, remains on track for its auction “subject to market conditions”.Warsh on Friday reiterated his willingness to hike rates if need be, helping calm markets somewhat. We shall wait and see if those conditions change for the worse between now and September 3rd.