Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Quarterly $1 Trillion Monetization / Interest-Rates / US Debt
The rising long-term USTreasury Bond yield has captured attention. The breakout chart for the 10-year Treasury was pointed out here when it rose over 3.1%, hardly a high level. In the first week of May, a target of 3.5% was cited, one easily surpassed. It zoomed to 3.75%, enough to create some waves in the stock market distracted and preoccupied by nonsensical Green Shoots talk on the psychological side and by falsified bank balance sheets on the accounting side. Bigtime stress has come to the USTreasury complex, a story difficult to mask and conceal, since it is at the epicenter of the credit markets.
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Geithner & China on U.S. Treasury Bonds Sales Trip: Who Are You Fooling? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s trip to Asia has been heralded as a sales trip aimed at convincing the Chinese to keep buying U.S. Treasuries and thereby finance U.S. deficits. Such headlines are, in my humble opinion, an insult to the Chinese. Over and over again, we fall victim of the temptation to believe that Chinese leaders act in a vacuum, dictating policies out of a closet. Chinese leaders know very well the state of the Chinese, the U.S., and the world economy; they don’t need a sales pitch. So what’s the purpose of Geithner’s trip then?
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Monday, June 01, 2009
U.S. Treasury Bond Market Oversold, Strong Seasonal Influences Supportive of a Rally / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The bond market sold off another three and a half points during the course of last week before managing to recover to almost unchanged for the week. It was one of the strangest weeks of trading activity that I have seen in a long time. While the economic data offered no major surprises to drive substantial moves in yields, the focus appeared to be on the Treasury auction calendar.
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
U.S.Treasury Bonds in the Eye of the Financial Storm / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Bryan Rich writes: The U.S. Treasury bond market has become the focal point of financial markets for the past several trading days. And when Treasury bonds move, so does the dollar.
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Sunday, May 31, 2009
Government Bond Markets Plunge Under Weight of Debt Issurance / Interest-Rates / International Bond Market
Government bonds dominated action on financial markets during the past holiday-shortened week, as angst about inflation and massive issuance propelled yields to six-month highs in the US, Europe and Japan.
Bonds and other safe-haven assets such as the US dollar were out of favor as signs of a bottoming of global economies, albeit tentative, emboldened investors’ appetite for reflation trades like equities and commodities, including oil and precious metals.
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Friday, May 29, 2009
The Next Debt Landslide: Lessons from Andrew Carnegie / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2009
Here we are, sitting in our homes or businesses reading commentary about the craziness of the world in which we live. While our collective response to rising markets has always been, “this is good,” never before have we been asked to trust so implicitly in ideas that are so far removed from the lessons of world history. While our political and financial leaders keep telling us that the capacity for debt production is eternal, Andrew Carnegie disagrees. If your friends don’t recognize that name, remind them that Carnegie had a little money in the 1800s. Carnegie Hall, Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Education all bear his name.
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Friday, May 29, 2009
Treasury Bond TLT ETF Rallying / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
It is interesting that the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSE: TLT) is rallying with the commodity sector today. Yes, the TLTs are very oversold, so let’s not read too much into today’s strength. However, I am suspicious that the strength just might be a reflection of anticipated Fed activity and buying interest in the long end – to prevent a back-up in mortgage rates and/or a derailment of fledgling economic recovery regardless of an increase in inflationary perceptions.
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Friday, May 29, 2009
Why Government Bonds Are No Longer A Safe Investment / Interest-Rates / International Bond Market
Martin Hutchinson writes: With budget deficits on the rise and inflation almost certain to follow, it’s getting easier to see why British or U.S. government bonds are no longer a truly safe investment.
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Friday, May 29, 2009
Which of these Global Bond Markets is the Most Bearish? / Interest-Rates / International Bond Market
The Technical Trader’s view:
TNotes:
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Mortgage Market Locks Up as Interest Rates Soar / Interest-Rates / Mortgages
Yesterday 10 year treasury yields went soaring and the mortgage market literally seized up. Mark Hanson at the Field Check Group has this report that I can share.
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
U.S. Treasury Bond Market Massacred; Yield Curve Steepest On Record / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Bernanke cannot have his cake and eat it too. If the economy is recovering the yield curve should steepen. And steepen it has. The Yield Curve Is Steepest On Record.
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Quantitative Easing Pushes U.S. Treasury Bonds Into Secular Bear Market / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
A monthly close over 3.432% confirms the secular trend change in the 10 year Treasury bond that I have been expecting and writing about for over 6 months. I am expecting yields pressures to persist for the next 12 months.
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Monday, May 25, 2009
U.S. Treasury Bond market Severely Damaged / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
The bond market was severely damaged last week. The theme from my previous note about the continued deterioration of the credit quality of government bonds and the consequent increase in real yields is certainly coming to fruition in swift fashion. It all started on Wednesday when the Standard and Poor’s rating agency issued a credit watch (with negative implications – i.e. potential downgrade from the best available AAA rating) for bonds issued by the United Kingdom – also known as Gilts.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
Fed Admits No Credit Crisis Bailouts TARP Exit Strategy / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Donald Kohn is yapping complete nonsense about interest rates floors, the Fed's balance sheet, risk, exit strategies and other items.
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
Bond and Foreign Exchange Markets Forcing Governments Debt Hand / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Last week Standard and Poor’s announced that the AAA credit outlook of the United Kingdom was lowered to “negative” from “stable.” The action caused many in the US, including Bill Gross, to impugn the United States’ AAA credit rating and wonder if the same devaluation should be applicable here.
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Friday, May 22, 2009
Triple-A Credit Rating or Bond Markets Bust? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
If you take a short walk down memory lane, it will not take you very long to find the carcass of New Century Financial along the side of the road back in March 2007. It would be a full 12 months before the word recession would be mentioned in the US mainstream media and stock markets would roar into their all-time highs six months after the disintegration of New Century. Much of the early portion of the credit crisis as it was called focused on mortgages and after that, mortgage-backed securities. Wow, haven’t heard that term in a while, have we?
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Friday, May 22, 2009
Investors Should Seek Maximum Safety in U.S. Treasury Bill ETF's / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Ron Rowland writes: I’ve just finished reading Martin’s new book, The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide. I highly recommend it. Martin says — and he’s exactly right — that the safest place in the world for your money is U.S. Treasury bills. In his book you’ll find a very handy list of money market funds that invest strictly in short-term Treasury securities: No commercial paper, bank notes, or other risky bonds.
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Friday, May 22, 2009
U.S. Treasury Bond Bear Market Picking Up Steam? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
At the risk of repeating myself, this author is bearish on long dated US Treasuries. Yes, despite the best efforts of the Fed to monetize the federal government’s ballooning borrowing needs and hold long rates at bay, this author is bearish on long dated US Treasuries.
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Thursday, May 21, 2009
Government Debt Downgrades vs. Gold / Interest-Rates / Global Financial System
The word for today is "downgrade". Inquiring minds may wish to count the instances of downgrade in the following paragraphs.
UK and US Debt Face Downgrades
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Delusions of Endless Credit Something Very Bad is Going to Happen / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2009
Richard Daughty writes: James Howard Kunstler, famous author and speaker, opines, “For now, the ‘bottom’ is in” which took me completely by surprise! I mean, how could anybody in their Right Freaking Mind (RFM) think that “the bottom is in” as far as the economy is concerned?
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