How to Pull Bond Yields in Excel

Pull government bond yields directly into Excel for discount rates, DCF models, and risk-free rate benchmarking using BlueGamma's Excel Add-in.

Government bond yields are essential for financial modelling — whether you're building discount rates for a DCF, benchmarking credit spreads, or setting hurdle rates for project finance. BlueGamma's Excel Add-in lets you pull live treasury yields directly into your model.

Common Use Cases

• Discount rates — Use treasury yields as the risk-free component in WACC calculations

• DCF models — Pull yields for specific maturities matching your cashflow dates

• Credit spread analysis — Compare corporate yields to government benchmarks

• Project finance — Set base rates for long-dated infrastructure models

Before You Start

To follow this guide, make sure you have:

• Installed the BlueGamma Excel Add-in

• Signed in through the BlueGamma tab in Excel

• An active BlueGamma trial or subscription

If you haven't set this up yet, see:

Installation & Setup

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1. The GOV_YIELD Function

Use the BlueGamma function to fetch government bond yields:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD(country_code, maturity, [forward_start], [valuation_date])

Parameter	Type	Description
country_code	string	ISO 2-letter country code (e.g., US, DE, GB)
maturity	string	Maturity as a tenor (e.g., 10Y) or date (2035-12-15)
forward_start	string (optional)	Forward start tenor or date. Defaults to spot.
valuation_date	string (optional)	Historical valuation date. Defaults to live.

Returns: Zero-coupon yield as a decimal (e.g., 0.0419 for 4.19%)

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2. Pull a Single Yield

To get the current 10-year US Treasury yield:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y")

To get the 5-year German Bund yield:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("DE", "5Y")

Tip: Multiply by 100 to display as a percentage:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y") * 100

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3. Build a Full Yield Curve

Set up your spreadsheet to pull yields across multiple maturities:

Cell	Content
A1	Country Code
B1	US

Row	A (Tenor)	B (Yield Formula)
3	1Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A3)
4	2Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A4)
5	3Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A5)
6	5Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A6)
7	7Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A7)
8	10Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A8)
9	20Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A9)
10	30Y	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, A10)

This gives you a complete yield curve you can chart or use in calculations.

Need live treasury yields in your model? Book a demo and we'll get you set up on a trial. Book a demo →

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4. Use Specific Maturity Dates

For DCF models, you often need yields for exact dates rather than standard tenors. The maturity parameter accepts dates:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "2030-06-15")

This returns the interpolated yield for a bond maturing on that specific date — perfect for matching your cashflow schedule.

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5. Build Discount Rates for a DCF

Here's a practical example: building discount rates for a 5-year DCF model.

Setup:

Cell	Parameter	Value
B1	Country	US
B2	Credit Spread	1.50%

Cashflow Schedule (Row 5 = headers, Row 6+ = data):

Column	Header	Formula (Row 6)
A	Year	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
B	Cashflow Date	Your cashflow dates
C	Risk-Free Rate	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD($B$1, B6)
D	Discount Rate	=C6 + $B$2
E	Discount Factor	=1 / (1 + D6) ^ A6
F	Cashflow	Your projected cashflows
G	Present Value	=F6 * E6

The risk-free rate pulls directly from the treasury curve, and you add your credit spread to get the full discount rate.

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6. Historical Yields

For backtesting or historical analysis, add a valuation date:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y", , "2024-06-30")

Note the empty parameter for forward_start — use a comma to skip it when you only need the valuation date.

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7. Forward-Starting Yields

Need the yield for a bond starting in the future? Use forward_start:

=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y", "1Y")

This returns the 10-year yield, 1 year forward — useful for forward-looking project finance models.

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Available Countries

Country Code	Description	Currency
US	US Treasury yields	USD
UK	UK Gilt yields	GBP
DE	German Bund yields	EUR
FR	French OAT yields	EUR
IT	Italian BTP yields	EUR
ES	Spanish Bonos yields	EUR
JP	Japanese Government Bond yields	JPY
CA	Canadian Government Bond yields	CAD
AU	Australian Government Bond yields	AUD

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Formula Reference

Use Case	Formula
Spot yield (tenor)	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y")
Spot yield (date)	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "2030-06-15")
Forward yield	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y", "1Y")
Historical yield	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y", , "2024-06-30")
Full parameters	=BlueGamma.GOV_YIELD("US", "10Y", "1Y", "2024-06-30")

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Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
#VALUE! error	Check country code is valid (e.g., "US" not "USA")
Yield seems wrong	Verify you're using the correct country code for your currency
Historical data missing	Check the valuation date is a valid business day

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Key Conventions

Government bond yields in BlueGamma use the following conventions:

• Compounding: Semi-annual

• Day Count: Actual/Actual

• Output: Zero-coupon yields

For more details on methodology, see Government Bond Curves

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