The 7-year CMT rate is the yield that a newly issued U.S. Treasury note with exactly seven years to maturity would carry today, read from the Treasury’s daily par yield curve. As of July 1, 2026, it stood at 4.35%.1FRED. Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 7-Year Constant Maturity If you have an adjustable-rate mortgage tied to this index, hold Treasuries, or price any medium-term debt, it’s the number to watch.
What the Rate Actually Represents
“CMT” stands for constant maturity Treasury. Rather than tracking one specific bond, the rate answers a hypothetical: if the government issued a brand-new note today with exactly seven years left to maturity, what yield would the market demand? Because no outstanding security has exactly seven years remaining at every moment, the Treasury interpolates the answer from the closing bid yields of actively traded Treasury securities in the secondary market.2U.S. Department of the Treasury. Interest Rates Frequently Asked Questions That interpolation is what makes the maturity “constant.” On any given day, the published 7-year CMT may not exactly match the yield of any single Treasury note trading in the market.
CMT yields are stated as bond-equivalent yields on a simple annualized basis, without compounding.2U.S. Department of the Treasury. Interest Rates Frequently Asked Questions The Treasury publishes CMT rates at 1, 3, and 6 months and 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 30 years, plus inflation-indexed versions at 5, 7, 10, 20, and 30 years derived from TIPS.3Federal Reserve. H.15 Selected Interest Rates
Where the Rate Sits Now
The 4.35% reading on July 1, 2026, was up from 4.23% a few trading days earlier on June 26, and from roughly 4.06% in mid-March.1FRED. Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 7-Year Constant Maturity3Federal Reserve. H.15 Selected Interest Rates The nominal rate has drifted higher through the spring and into summer.
The inflation-indexed 7-year rate, drawn from TIPS, was 2.00% in June 2026, up from 1.53% in February.4FRED. Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 7-Year Constant Maturity, Inflation-Indexed The gap between the nominal rate and the real rate approximates the market’s inflation expectations over the next seven years. With the nominal near 4.35% and the real near 2.00%, the implied breakeven is roughly 2.35%, suggesting bond investors expect inflation modestly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target over that horizon.
What’s Moving It
CMT rates reflect current economic conditions, expectations for short-term rates, inflation expectations, and the supply of Treasury debt. The Treasury itself cautions that CMT rates are not forecasts.2U.S. Department of the Treasury. Interest Rates Frequently Asked Questions
The Federal Reserve’s policy rate is the biggest anchor. On June 17, 2026, the Federal Open Market Committee held the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75%, noting that inflation remains “elevated relative to the Committee’s 2 percent goal.”5Federal Reserve. FOMC Statement, June 17, 2026 The median projection puts the appropriate fed funds rate at 3.8% at the end of 2026 and 3.6% at the end of 2027. Under new Chairman Kevin Warsh, sworn in on May 22, 2026, the Fed dropped explicit forward guidance from its policy statement, with Warsh saying financial markets “perform best when they react to incoming data” rather than relying on central-bank signaling.6Federal Reserve. FOMC Press Conference, June 17, 2026 Less Fed signaling tends to push intermediate yields up as investors demand more compensation for the uncertainty.
Supply matters too. The Treasury projected $189 billion in marketable borrowing for the April–June 2026 quarter and $671 billion for July–September.7U.S. Department of the Treasury. Treasury Quarterly Refunding Estimate, May 2026 Seven-year notes are part of that calendar, auctioned monthly.8TreasuryDirect. Treasury Notes And the shape of the curve plays a role: after more than two years of inversion, the curve turned positive in 2024 and continued steepening into 2026, with 10-year notes yielding about 1% more than 2-year notes in early 2026.3Federal Reserve. H.15 Selected Interest Rates The seven-year sits in the belly of that curve, pulled by both near-term rate expectations and longer-term inflation and term-premium dynamics.
Why It Matters to Borrowers
Lenders use various CMT maturities as the index for adjustable-rate mortgages. An ARM works by picking an index (such as a CMT rate or SOFR) and adding a margin, a fixed number of percentage points negotiated at origination. The sum becomes your interest rate at each adjustment period.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage, What Are the Index and Margin The index and margin must be disclosed on your Loan Estimate, and the lender must provide an ARM program disclosure explaining how the loan works.10Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Consumer Handbook on Adjustable-Rate Mortgages
The Treasury does not set ARM rates, and which CMT maturity a lender picks is up to the lender.2U.S. Department of the Treasury. Interest Rates Frequently Asked Questions If you have a CMT-indexed ARM, check your loan documents to confirm the exact maturity your rate is tied to. The 7-year CMT is one option among several, not the universal mortgage index.
Beyond mortgages, constant maturity rates serve as reference points for interest rate swaps, credit default swaps, and other fixed-income products. Because Treasuries are considered essentially risk-free, lenders and investors add a risk premium on top of the relevant CMT rate.11Investopedia. Constant Maturity
How It Compares to Prime and SOFR
The CMT is one of several benchmarks you may run into. The prime rate, typically about 3% above the fed funds target, is often used for home equity lines of credit and some older ARMs. SOFR, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, is based on actual transactions in the Treasury repo market and has become the predominant benchmark for newer ARM products.12Freddie Mac. SOFR-Indexed ARMs CMT rates come from secondary-market Treasury yields rather than overnight bank or secured lending, so they more directly reflect medium-term government borrowing costs.
Buying a 7-Year Treasury Note
You can buy 7-year Treasury notes at auction through TreasuryDirect, the government’s online platform, or through a bank or broker. The minimum purchase is $100, in increments of $100, with a maximum non-competitive bid of $10 million. On TreasuryDirect, only non-competitive bids are allowed, meaning you accept whatever yield the auction determines; competitive bids, which specify a desired yield, must go through a broker or dealer.13TreasuryDirect. Buying a Treasury Marketable Security
Notes are issued electronically, pay interest semiannually at a fixed rate set at auction, and can be held to maturity or sold on the secondary market. Interest is subject to federal income tax but exempt from state and local taxes. Securities bought through TreasuryDirect must be held for at least 45 calendar days before they can be transferred or sold.13TreasuryDirect. Buying a Treasury Marketable Security
Where to Track It
The Federal Reserve publishes daily CMT rates through its H.15 Selected Interest Rates release, the primary official source.3Federal Reserve. H.15 Selected Interest Rates The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis maintains the DGS7 series on FRED, with interactive charts and downloadable history going back to July 1969.1FRED. Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 7-Year Constant Maturity The Treasury Department also posts daily par yield curve rates and par real yield curve rates on its interest rate statistics page.14U.S. Department of the Treasury. Interest Rate Statistics