This Animation Of 32 Years' Worth Of Treasury Yield Curves Is Mesmerizing

Business Insider reader Jim Laird created this animated chart tracking Treasury yield curves compared to the actual yield on a three-month Treasury.

The yield curve is a line that plots a set of forward-looking interest rates at a given point in time. A US Treasury yield curve would connect today's yields for three-month, six-month, 12-month, two-year, five-year, one-year, and 30-year Treasury securities.

"I wrote a script that figured out the yield curve at every date from 1982 to present and compared the results to the actual yield on a three-month Treasury," Laird said. "Then I turned it into a movie. The red parts are overestimates, the blue are underestimates."

An inverted yield curve, when long-term yields are lower than short-term yields, has a long track record of occurring before recessions.

Edited by Matthew Stuart