NEW YORK — So-called cheap money is getting more expensive on Wall Street, and that could spell trouble for investors, home buyers and dealmakers.

In the latest sign that borrowing costs are on the rise, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note spiked to 5.13 percent yesterday, its first close above the psychologically important 5 percent level since July 2006.

The breakout in long-term government bond yields could be signaling that the era of rock-bottom interest rates, which has helped fuel a sharp rise in asset prices around the globe, may be nearing an end.

"It feels like people woke up and said, 'Holy cow, yields are moving up,' " says Bill Hornbarger, chief bond strategist at A.G. Edwards.

This week, central banks in New Zealand and Europe raised key interest rates to curb growth and inflation. At the same time, hopes for a rate cut in the United States dimmed. Similarly, the outlook for the Treasury market has taken on a more pessimistic tone.

Even long-time bond bull Bill Gross of Pimco has turned bearish on Treasuries after concluding that strong economic growth around the world and a mild uptick in inflation is likely to continue for years. In an interview posted on the firm's Web site yesterday, he said the yield on the 10-year note could rise as high as 6.5 percent in the next three to five years — a full percentage point above last year's long-term projection.

The growing realization that borrowing costs are on the rise is already causing financial reverberations.