It’s a good bet that interest rates will be lower in coming months — notwithstanding the ultimate resolution of the war in Iran, beyond the temporary cease-fire agreement, and the extraordinary volatility of energy prices to which the conflict has led. That’s because U.S. Treasury real yields — reflecting the difference between nominal yields and inflation — are higher than at any time since the 2008 global financial crisis, as you can see from the chart below. More often than not historically, above-average real rates have been followed in fairly short order by lower nominal rates.