Borrowing costs across some of Europe's biggest economies have surged to their highest levels in more than 15 years, as a renewed sell-off in global bond markets gathers pace.

The global bond rout pushed Germany's benchmark borrowing costs to a 15-year high on Tuesday, with France, Italy and the Netherlands all seeing similarly steep rises.

Germany’s 10-year Bund climbed above 3.36% on Tuesday, according to Trading Economics. Later, the yield went down a bit and traded at around 3.34%.

Bond yields move inversely to prices. When investors sell bonds, prices fall, and because a bond's fixed interest payment becomes worth more relative to that lower price, the effective yield rises.

In short — the more bonds get sold, the more it costs governments to borrow.