The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) warned financial markets that hedge funds could disrupt the all-important US Treasury market because of massive size of their leveraged bets against it.

In total, hedge funds hold a $600 billion short position against the $25 trillion US Treasury market, created using contracts to bet on the future price of the asset, according to a BIS research note from economists Fernando Avalos and Vladyslav Sushko.

A US credit downgrade by Fitch was "entirely unwarranted," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday, pushing back against the second-ever decrease by a major ratings agency following repeated debt limit standoffs in Washington.

Her remarks came a day after the world's biggest economy lost its top-tier credit rating from Fitch as the agency lowered it a notch from AAA to AA+, drawing fiery disapproval from the White House and Treasury.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday notified lawmakers the nation will run out of money to pay its bills by June 5 if they do not raise the debt ceiling.

“Based on the most recent available data, we now estimate that Treasury will have insufficient resources to satisfy the government’s obligations if Congress has not raised or suspended the debt limit by June 5,” Yellen wrote to leaders.

The update may offer negotiators who were working with an estimated June 1 “X-date” more breathing room to clinch a deal to raise the debt ceiling, but it also sets a hard deadline.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress Friday that the U.S. government is now expected to run out of cash to pay its current obligations by June 5, updating her previous estimate that said the day could come as early as June 1.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has given Congress a more precise date — June 5 — for when the U.S. government will hit the debt ceiling and run out of money to pay its bills.

Why it matters: Yellen's previous warnings estimated the U.S. would hit the so-called X-date as early as June 1, but her latest letter provides a firmer deadline as lawmakers and the White House work to avoid a damaging debt default.

The IRS on Monday removed the “entire investigative team” from its long-running tax fraud probe of first son Hunter Biden in alleged retaliation against the whistleblower who recently contacted Congress to allege a cover-up in the case, The Post has learned.

The purge allegedly was done on the orders of the Justice Department, the whistleblower’s attorneys informed congressional leaders in a letter.

After a week of meetings on the debt ceiling, Congress, the White House and the country still do not have a clear path forward to avoid a cataclysmic default with just four days when both the House and Senate are scheduled to be in session before June 1, when the US could default on its obligations. On one hand, it looks like this could go to the brink.

A debt limit meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and top lawmakers that had been scheduled for Friday has been postponed, and the leaders agreed to meet early next week, a White House spokesperson said on Thursday.

Aides from both sides have started to discuss ways to limit federal spending, as talks on raising the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling to avoid a catastrophic default creep forward, people familiar with the discussions said.

"Staff will continue working and all the principals agreed to meet early next week," the spokesperson said.

Aides for top congressional leaders resumed talks on raising the nation’s debt limit behind closed doors, even as top Senate leaders continue to wage a messaging war one day after meeting with President Joe Biden.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said that failure to raise the debt ceiling will cause a “steep economic downturn” in the U.S., and she reiterated her warning that the Treasury Department may run out of measures to pay its debt obligations by June.

“Our current projection is that in early June, a day will come when we’re unable to pay our bills unless Congress raises the debt ceiling, and it’s something I strongly urge Congress to do,” Yellen told ABC’s “This Week.”