Bond tracking ETF, $TLT, just closed at its lowest level since February 2011
The ETF is now officially down 50% from its high just 3 years ago in 2020. Yet, investors continue to desperately pour money into Treasuries despite the massive underperformance. Indeed, despite the rise in bond yields, investors keep piling into $TLT (iShares US Treasuries 20year+) etf. Another $750m last week as 60/40 portfolios are stubbornly allocating funds to this underperforming asset, hoping for a return to a disinflationary environment. As mentioned by Eric Balchunas / Bloomberg, it is quite rare seeing an ETF taking in so much money ($16b YTD, #2 overall) while being down so much and so consistently (especially when you can get just as much yield with no duration risk...). Such a behaviour happened with the China Internet ETF $KWEB... not a great omen... Source: Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, Tavi Costa
Treasury notes, bonds, and mortgage-back securities account for over 80% of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet
Last week, the Fed's balance sheet plunged by almost $75BN last week, its biggest weekly drop since July 2020. The Fed's balance sheet is now over 10% below its April 2022 peak. But this is WITHOUT taking into account the current drop in value of the bonds held on the balance sheet. Indeed, if they were to be re-evaluated using a mark-to-market methodology, the Fed's assets could be reduced by another $1 trillion. To provide some context, he recent decline in market value would likely exceed the entirety of their QT policy thus far, which accounted for $939B. This would essentially revert their balance sheet size back to 2020 levels. Source: Bloomberg, Tavi Costa
A government shutdown would reflect negatively on America’s credit rating, says Moody’s, the only remaining major credit grader to assign the US a top AAA rating
“While government debt service payments would not be impacted & a short-lived shutdown would be unlikely to disrupt the economy, it would underscore the weakness of US institutional and governance strength relative to other AAA-rated sovereigns that we have highlighted in recent years,” analysts led by William Foster wrote in a report Monday. Source: Bloomberg
The Power of Duration! This is not the chart of an altcoin, this is the chart of Austria’s 100-year bond, down 82% from its 2021 peak!
Source: Jeroen Blokland
HIGH YIELD BONDS, THE BILL COMES DUE...
Global high yield bonds have been quite resilient so far in this cycle but the reality is that they will hit the maturity wall starting next year. And things will probably become more challenging whatever the economic scenario. If the economy does well and interest rates stay high for longer, the refinancing cost is likely to become more expensive. If the economy moves into recession, credit spreads are likely to go up hence still putting upward pressure on refinancing cost. So either way delinquencies are likely to increase. Source: Bloomberg
Treasury Yields now surpass Stock Dividend Yields by the widest margin since the Global Financial Crisis
Source: Bloomberg, Bar chart
Yields pushing higher
US 2Y yields hit their highest since July 2006 US 5Y yields highest since Aug 2007 US 10Y highest since Nov 2007 US 30Y highest since April 2011 Source: Bloomberg, www.zerohedge.com
Inflation fear is NOT the driver of rising yields
Indeed, 10y real yields (10y nominal yields - 10y inflation expectations) jumped to 2.11%, the highest since 2009. In other words, investors are demanding higher REAL yields in the face of political chaos in Washington and high debt. Source: Bloomberg, HolgerZ
